Here's the beginning of my version of the finale arc to RPM. Hope you all like it.
Legal: I do not own Power Rangers or any of the associated names, places, events etc. Anything not covered by those rights is to be presumed to be purely the creation of the author.
Rating: T, may be some adult material including violence.
Summer woke up in Dillon's arms, as she had done a few times before, but this time was different. This was the first night they had spent together as man and wife. Looking down to her hand, seeing her new wedding ring, she pulled his arms around herself more tightly. She felt Dillon shifting a little, getting more comfortable.
"Good morning." He greeted her with a soft whisper in her ear, kissing her cheek as he did so. "How does it feel?"
"It's not how I pictured it." She told him, turning around in his grip to face him. As he looked at her curiously, she smiled brightly, causing his heart to race faster, just as it had the first time he had seen her smile like that. "It's even better. I love you Mr. Landsdown."
"You know I love you, but I am not becoming Mr. Landsdown." He replied, kissing her passionately. "I might not be the most traditional guy, but that's a little out there even for me."
"Well we have to think of something." She told him.
"What's the hurry?" He asked her. "We have all the time in the world."
"Actually, we should be moving pretty soon." Summer cut him off, placing a hand on his forehead as me moved in to kiss her again. "We still haven't seen our new niece yet."
"I'm sure Chas and Brie will understand." He assured her. "Can't we just have a little longer as newlyweds before we get back into things? It's bad enough we're still on call waiting for Venjix."
"As tempting as that is, we need to get up." She replied, reaching across to her dresser, grabbing her bath robe and pulling it on. "I'm going for a shower."
"That sounds like an idea." He agreed, beginning to get up. Summer laughed as she saw this. Making their way through to the bathroom, Summer felt right about this. It was upsetting that they couldn't spend some time just enjoying their new life together. Their duties as Rangers were too important, but she knew that it didn't matter. They had the rest of their lives to worry about having a honeymoon period. As long as they could enjoy the little things like waking up together, she could wait.
In the main room, Flynn and Sam arrived, finding Ziggy over by the counter changing Alex. He squirmed a little at Ziggy's touch, letting out a few contented gurgles as he held him reassuringly. They came over as he deposited the diaper in a nearby trash can.
"Good grief man, can that spell be natural?" Flynn asked him as Sam looked down on the little boy in awe. Ziggy started wiping down his son gently.
"Well he isn't going to be on solids for a while, so his poop is mostly made of fermenting milk." He reminded the Blue Ranger, reaching for the baby powder. "You get used to it though."
"He's adorable. I can't wait until it's my turn." She commented a little dreamily as Ziggy finished up, beginning to dress him. "You're so lucky."
"I know, he's the most amazing thing in my life." Ziggy told them happily. Tenaya just coughed a little as she came into the room, hearing this. "You know what I mean."
"So have you visited your brother yet?" Flynn asked him.
"Not yet, we were planning to go today once Summer and Dillon finally...speak of the devils!" Tenaya announced as her brother and her sister-in-law came into the room.
Summer and Dillon arrived in the room, Dillon quickly taking a seat by the breakfast table while Summer rushed over to Tenaya, hugging her tightly.
"So how does your first day as an official member of the family feel?" Tenaya asked her. Summer just smiled.
"It's taking some getting used to." She replied. "We still haven't figured out what we're going to do for a surname. Why we can't..."
"Not going to happen sweetheart." Dillon interrupted her as he realised she was about to suggest going with Landsdown again. Dr. K and Scott came into the room, followed closely by Gem and Gemma. The twins had been up for quite some time, searching out all the fireworks they had set up, and disarming the ones they hadn't used. In his enthusiasm, Gem had set up so many that even he had forgotten all of them, and had only set off a little over half of them. Fortunately no one had set off any by accident, but Dr. K had insisted they go over the building thoroughly lest it turn into a rather elaborate booby trap.
"I see you've been busy." Flynn commented, seeing the large collection of explosives in their arms. They deposited them on a nearby workbench. Tenaya sidestepped away a little involuntarily; a little nervous in case any of them were still active despite her knowledge that if Gem knew about anything, it was explosives. "Are you sure that's all of them?"
"We're sure." Gemma sighed. She hadn't wanted to take any of the spotlight from the newlyweds, and so she and Hicks hadn't yet told anyone about their relationship. She still couldn't believe how amazing he looked in his tuxedo. She almost wished there were more occasions that would warrant such attire.
"Well I'm glad we all had a good time last night, but unfortunately it's back to business." Scott announced. "There'll be a briefing in the lab in 20 minutes, so everyone get some breakfast and be ready to begin."
Over at the asylum, Marcus was sitting in the canteen with Cassandra. The military were in the process of vetting new guards for the building. After the problems before, Marcus wasn't taking any chances. He had taken to protecting the building himself, allowing doctors in to administer treatments under his supervision while the military dealt with the old administration.
It felt strangely good to be in such a position. It felt like the early days of the resistance shortly after he had discovered his first colony of refugees in the wastes. Those in his care gave him a sense of purpose. When his rage and despair had left him believing that he had nothing left, it was his duty to them which kept him from his self-destructive path. While the war took its toll on his resolve, and he occasionally forgot what was important, the experience saving Cassandra and the others had been what reminded him of those times.
He was alone in the canteen with her. Father Larry had not yet convinced the Colonel to release her into his care. While they concentrated on getting the asylum re-staffed, it was considered not the best time to give her a full examination to confirm that taking her off medication had indeed improved her condition. On Father Larry's recommendation, she was being kept largely in isolation for her own good, limiting the amount of people who were around her to keep the confusing mental and emotional noise she picked up from others to a minimum until he could get time to fully explain her gift.
He heard a knock on the door, and turned around to find Vasquez and a couple of soldiers in the doorway. As he had instructed, they waited dutifully by the door while he was with her, again keeping their distance to reduce the strain on Cassandra. He went over, opening the door and shaking her hand.
"The doctors are waiting in the treatment area as usual." Vasquez informed him. "We should be able to get the first of the new guards to you in a couple of days. They've passed the vetting procedure..."
"Not my vetting procedure." Marcus interrupted her. Vasquez just shook her head.
"I know, I remember our agreement." Vasquez assured him. With Hicks out of the way, Colonel Truman had assigned her to the task of dealing with the recruitment. It wasn't something that made her comfortable; she had always been more comfortable in situations where she didn't have to spend so much time around others. She was not a social creature at all, preferring the company of computer systems and her cat Elwood, but Colonel Truman had been so impressed with her work, he had been trying to push her into accepting more responsibilities and train as an officer for so long, and it was becoming wearing. She was happy as his technical analyst. "I'll send them over at a time to suit you."
"Marcus, are you...?" Cassandra came over, intending to ask him a question, but her words tailed off as she locked eyes with Vasquez for the first time. Marcus noticed the pause and looked between them curiously.
"What is it?" Marcus asked her. Cassandra just looked confused, and a little worried by whatever she was picking up from the visitors. Vasquez looked a little troubled too, having been briefed on the situation with Cassandra. It felt uncomfortable, almost invasive to have her stare at her like that, knowing that she could see so much about her.
"You're troubled about something." Cassandra told her. "You...I can't get a firm image, but...you have something..."
Marcus caught her as she started to keel over.
"Sickness...it's all...there's death...fear..." She muttered. Marcus looked to Vasquez curiously.
"Sickness...Elwood!" Vasquez told him. "My cat, he's really ill. I took him to the vet. He's on medication but they don't know how serious it is."
"You still don't understand your gift. Is it possible that's all it is?" Marcus asked Cassandra. She looked thoroughly disorientated and weakened, but she nodded gently. "Vasquez, would you and your guys mind stepping outside? She's having..."
"No problem. We have a few things we need to take care of." Vasquez told him. "We'll show ourselves out."
Marcus helped Cassandra back to her chair, sitting with her as she stroked her head gently, massaging her temples.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
"I really wish I could understand what's happening to me." She moaned as she tried to straighten out her mind.
"What did you want to ask me?" He asked her. "You came to ask me something."
"I wanted to know if you've finished with your toast." She told him, smiling weakly. "I'm a little hungry."
Marcus just took the slices off his plate and gave them to her. He wanted to do what he could to help her.
Back at the Garage, the Rangers assembled in the lab after breakfast. Dr. K had cued up the display screens with the results of her surveillance on the palace.
"As you know Venjix has been incredibly quiet as of late. For the last two months in fact, there hasn't been so much as one Grinder seen within the city limits." Dr. K began. "I know none of us are foolish enough to believe that Venjix would simply give up."
"The last any of us heard from them was when we expelled Kilobyte from the city." Dillon reminded them. "That was...right after Alex was born."
"His energy signature still exists, so it seems like he's still around." Dr. K told them. "It also seems likely that he's not been resting on his laurels. In two months he's almost certain to be fully repaired, possibly even upgraded."
"Together with Venjix's new body, that means they could have some pretty sick firepower behind them." Flynn added.
"I've also been tracking emissions and energy levels from Venjix's main factory within the palace." Dr. K continued with the briefing. "We have no idea what they're building, but we do know that the machines are operating at a level thousands of times greater than before. It seems prudent to prepare for a major offensive in the near future."
"Even if all he's producing is Grinders, with that level of production, they'll be producing an incredible force." Scott added. "We calculate that they would be capable of producing a Grinder for every man woman and child in Corinth within the next 48 hours."
"So what's the plan?" Ziggy asked them, gently rocking Alex's crib as he slept. "The suspense is killing us."
"I'm working on a project that may be able to secure victory over Venjix once and for all." Dr. K told them. "In the mean time, Colonel Truman has increased production in the munitions factories. If a major invasion comes, we may have no choice but to start drafting every able bodied person to the effort."
"Until then, all we can do is wait until Venjix tips his hand." Scott told them. "Stay alert guys, we can expect something soon."
As soon as the briefing broke up, Gemma made her way to her room for some privacy, dialling Hicks' number. She wanted to see him, to talk to him today, but she knew that right now she needed to help her brother and Dr. K with the analysis.
"Hi this is Hicks..."
"Hicks, It's..."
"I can't speak right now, please leave a message after the beep." Gemma felt a little disappointed that he wasn't able to talk to her. She had been going to meet with him every day since he went on personal leave. This would be the first time she would miss an appointment. She just wanted to let him know.
"Hicks, its Gemma. I can't make it over tonight." She began, trying to find the words to explain. "Dr. K's been tracking a lot of activity around the palace. We're on high alert around here. I need to stay and help them. Take care Hicks, I love you."
As she hung up, there was an alarm in the city. Gem burst into the room, finding her staring longingly at the phone, lost in thoughts of the man she had fallen for so hard.
"Gemma, it looks like Venjix has sent us a great little warm up. A load of Grinders just showed up in the city." He told her. "It's boom time!"
With that, they all rushed to their vehicles, preparing to get back into the fray. He had been quiet for a long time, but it looked like Venjix was ready to start right back where he had left off.
In another part of town, Father Larry was beginning to put bibles out on the pews in preparation for his next service when he became aware someone was in the building. He could feel it. He turned around to see who had come into the room, already feeling uneasy.
"I guess it's too much to hope for you're here for some quiet reflection." He commented sadly. "Now I know why you never attended any of my sermons."
"I don't need to pray." A voice said with a little venom as the intruder started to advance down the aisle, looking up to the crucifix over the altar. "You might want to though."
"They don't know do they?" He asked the intruder as he made his way over to his lectern. Although it wasn't his way, by habit he kept a small hand blaster in a hidden compartment in the lectern for emergencies. His brow furrowed. "You didn't know either did you?"
"Venjix has infiltrators in key positions all over this city." The intruder informed him. "Their memories of the procedure are blocked so they wouldn't give themselves away too early. My programming was activated earlier. It seems we had a problem Venjix hadn't considered."
His eyes grew wide in horror as he realised what he meant.
"Cassandra!" He gasped. "What have you done?"
"Nothing yet, but she did indicate that you empaths could present us with some difficulties." The intruder informed him. "Since you're the only one with control of your gift..."
Father Larry pulled out the hand blaster and fired off a shot, which the infiltrator barely managed to dodge, before grabbing one of the pews, launching its weight effortlessly with one hand almost thirty feet, smashing through the lectern and sprawling him on the floor. Father Larry looked around, scrabbling to get to the hand blaster as the infiltrator closed in.
"You know you're no match for me." The infiltrator told him. "Why do you resist? Why make this any more painful than it needs to be?"
The infiltrator finally reached him, stomping down on his knee, shattering it. Father Larry let out a hellish scream of agony as the infiltrator picked up his blaster, throwing it away out of reach.
"You already know how this ends." The infiltrator told him, bending down over him. "Why struggle?"
"I know you're still in there. I know it's possible to defeat the programming." He implored him. "Remember all the people who love you, who did love you."
Hicks grabbed his hair, yanking his head back painfully and sneered at him.
"Nothing can defeat Venjix." He snapped at him, twisting his head sharply and shattering his neck with ease. The infiltrator took Father Larry's lifeless corpse, looking up to the crucifix on the wall. It was a symbol of hope, of faith. It provided these foolish humans with strength in the face of the inevitable. He threw the limp form of Father Larry, smashing it through the idol. Observing his body, tangled among the debris, he turned and left the building, its assignment complete.
Over at the Garage, the Rangers came back from the battle, having taken care of the Grinders. As they came back, Scott came to Dr. K's side, kissing her deeply.
"Well it looks like Venjix hasn't changed up his strategy that much." He commented happily, putting his arm around the woman he loved. "That almost seemed easier than before."
"Well I have to admit you all came back before I would have expected." They heard a familiar voice. They all turned to see Kilobyte entering the room, carrying a strange new weapon. They all moved into positions around him. "So Tenaya, how is motherhood treating you?"
"You aren't going to get your hands on him!" Ziggy warned him, morphing and rushing the General.
"Ziggy no!" Scott roared as Ziggy's wild swing with his Turbo Axe was ducked skilfully by the General.
"I have no interest in the brat anymore!" He replied, grabbing Ziggy by the throat and levelling his weapon at Dr. K. Seeing that no one was close enough to intercept the blast, Ziggy teleported over to her as Kilobyte pulled the trigger. Grabbing her, he teleported away, but not quickly enough as Kilobyte's blast hit the energy trail left by Ziggy's teleportation as he went. There was a massive energy wave which filled the room, scattering the Rangers and Kilobyte onto the floor.
"It looks like my mission is successful." Kilobyte told them. "Dr. K is gone, and I've taken the Green Ranger into the bargain."
Scott let out a savage cry, smashing the weapon to smithereens with his Street Sabre. Kilobyte activated a device in his chest, teleporting from the Garage. Scott turned to the twins frantically. "Where are they? What did he do to them?"
"I can't find their life signatures anywhere!" Gemma told him, checking the scanners. "They've disappeared.