Longish Author's Notes: Okay, I know I took this down. I realized that I was getting in way over my head, so I took it down for review and whatnot. The remaining chapters are still getting the treatment of editing and all, and to make sure I didn't screw up anywhere (because I consider myself a perfectionist for my grammar and spelling).

What's kept me from doing this before? Hmm...let's see, life. Graduating from CCC, getting into Drexel, going to Balticon and job-hunting like a demon.

Oh and pimping out my boyfriend's father's book Shards:Book 1. It really is a good book and it's a really good sci-fi book, too. Basically (without trying to spoil it for you) the main character had a pretty damn good life. He was a retired soldier who was a project leader for a company called NATech. Then one day it all came crashing down, especially when he woke up...about six hundred years later. And instead of being a full-grown man...well, I'll leave that part for you guys to read. PM me if you want more info.

Also, yes this is still the first story of it's kind. A Power Rangers and Metal Gear crossover. And yes, it is AU. (Glad that's out of the way because I do NOT wish to rehash this later). So, for old and new readers, without further ado, enjoy!

A Snake Among Rangers

Chapter 1: The Capture of an Immortal Ranger

"Today's date is Saturday June 20, 1998. The time is 3:00 P.M.," announced an alarm clock sitting on a desk in a robotic female voice.

"Three o'clock already? Time flies, nowadays," said a man with a low voice. The man walked over to the desk, where the clock was sitting, and picked up a rather thick manila folder. He knew that getting this kind of information was extremely lucky, considering the source of the info. His friend almost died in the process, but their commanding officer had ordered such Intel. The reason, of course, would become clear to both men in the next couple of days, from what their commanding officer told them earlier that day.

"Now gentlemen," said an older man with a British accent, "and lady," he motioned to the woman in a lab coat that was also with them as he spoke, "the folders that are before you contain information about a certain individual. I wish to thank Mr. Anderson for gathering this for us. You are to read over this information. I will meet with you in two days time. Dismissed," finished the British man, and they all walked out of the room.

"Zero," said Mr. Anderson, "getting through those barriers was-"

"Difficult, I know," said Zero in his British accent. He continued, "I want the three of you to read over this carefully. I will let you know in two days' time why I asked you to gather this Intel."

"Yes, sir," said Mr. Anderson and another man in unison.

"Oh, and Dr. Clark," said Zero as he turned to face the woman, "be prepared, alright?"

"I will be," said Dr. Clark, and she walked off to her office, with the folder in one hand and a big notepad and pen in the other.

"Ocelot," said Zero as he turned his head to the other man, "make sure you take extra precaution. This individual is-"

"Major Zero, I know. I know about the team this person's on," said the other man, in a reassuring way.

"Alright, but be careful."

"Yes, sir," said Ocelot and he headed to the mess hall for lunch.

Ocelot sighed as he reflected on that meeting in the day. He sat down at his desk and began going over the information that he was given. There was something written on the flap of the folder.

"Information on the Immortal Power Ranger," read Ocelot dryly. "This is what the information is about? Zero must be getting senile, or desperate. Only someone like that would want to experiment on a Power Ranger, and on this one, no less. She's only a child. But still, she can't be killed, however," said Ocelot finally. He began going over the Intel by opening the folder and reading the girl's name: Elora Abbott.

Meanwhile, Dr. Clark was also going over the information she garnered at the meeting as well. She was in shock when she read both the title on the flap and the name.

"She's only a child!" exclaimed Dr. Clark. "What the hell is Zero thinking? But still, she's immortal, and a legend to boot among those Rangers," she finished quietly to herself, but nevertheless enraged at Zero for selecting a child for this project. "He could have chosen one of the older Rangers," she thought to herself. She then continued to pour over the info in the folder.

"This had better be worth it, Zero," Anderson said to himself. "I had to crack into their Morphing Grid to get this! Even I couldn't believe those barriers that were in place. But, I did it," said Anderson. He then went over the information in the folder to himself in his office.

Ocelot took a drag from the cigar he lit as he read the contents of the folder. After putting it into the ashtray nearby, he stood up from his chair and walked around for a bit. "The time is now 7:00 P.M.," announced the clock. "Damn, it's been four hours already?" said Ocelot. Even he couldn't believe the time. He sat down in his chair and read over the child's profile. "Hmm, 'age 11, born 11/20/1986, recently had a cybernetic arm attached to replace one that was destroyed in battle, but that arm isn't Earth technology, though,'" he said flatly and continued, "been a Ranger since she was six years old'?" His eyes widened from the surprise at not only her age, but also how long she had been a Ranger. "This must be one powerful kid, then." He chuckled to himself and thought that maybe, just maybe, Zero could be right all along.

"Nice try, T.J." said a girl in a space uniform wearing a purple shirt underneath her jacket, "but you have to get up pretty early to catch me off-guard." She laughed as her friend had clearly missed her head by a good three feet.

"Damn, Elora, you're fast, you know that?" panted her friend. He too was wearing a space uniform like Elora was except he wore a blue shirt. However, his shirt was saturated with sweat; hers was still dry.

"Maybe it's because I'm a demi goddess?" said Elora with a sly look on her face. "Oh I'm only messing with you. I've been a Ranger for years, remember?" she said with an eyebrow raised.

"Hell, I can't forget that. And you look like the Rock from WWF with your eyebrow raised, you know that?" replied T.J. with a smile on his face.

"It doesn't matter what you think!" said Elora, doing an impression of the Rock, "C'mon, man, let's call it a day, huh?"

"Agreed," panted T.J. as Elora offered her hand to help him up. They walked out of the room to the mess hall to get some food.

"Hey, what's wrong, Elora? Something bugging you?" asked T.J., noticing the worried look on his friend's face.

"Yeah, T.J. You reek!" said Elora as she held her nose. "Eww, man! I didn't think that you'd work up a sweat like that against me."

"Well, your shirt's still dry!" T.J. snapped back at her, "And you've only had that arm for a month, now. It's not giving you any trouble, though?

"Nope. I practiced writing with it after Apollo popped it into place last month. So, no change in my writing style. I can move it normally as well and I don't have to worry about having a broken bone in my right arm, right?"

T.J. nodded in agreement with her and as they continued their conversation they proceeded into the mess hall.

"Bottle of water, apple and roasted chicken," ordered T.J. from the replicator, then Elora ordered, "Green tea, banana and homemade chicken noodle soup." Their meals came out and they both sat down to fill their tanks with food.

"That's odd, Elora. What's with the light meal? Usually you eat just as much as the rest of us," remarked T.J. as he pointed his fork at the child goddess's meal.

Elora took a swig from her green tea and replied, "I haven't been feeling too well lately. I figure that if I go with a light meal I might feel better. And chicken noodle soup is supposed to make you feel better. But this," she said, pointing to her soup with her spoon with a look of disgust on her face, "it kinda tastes like watered down condensed soup."

She continued to eat it anyway.

T.J. continued his meal and realized that she did look paler than usual. Normally her complexion was very fair, and come summer her skin would turn as red as his Turbo Ranger suit if she neglected to apply sunscreen lotion. But, for the past week she looked like she had just blanched from the thought of something terrible. Elora, meanwhile, had realized that T.J. had a good point. She was paler than usual, though when she did get ghostly pale, it was usually during the colder months in her home state of New Jersey, or when she was sick. She chalked her recent change in skin color to the latter. Her different complexion caused their leader Andros to almost commit her to Sick Bay before a battle a few months ago, until Ashley, Andros's girlfriend, told him why this happened.

"Oh," came his reply back then, "never mind."

"It's alright. I understand," she had told him.

"Eww, what smells like sweaty gym socks?" asked a woman walking into the mess hall wearing a space uniform with a pink shirt.

"Him," Elora said, pointing her spoon at T.J.

"T.J., did she whoop your butt again in practice?" asked the girl as she pushed a long strand of black hair out of face.

"Yup," replied Elora, "like always."

"Very funny, Elora," shot back T.J.

"Elora, are you ok? You look like you lost a lot of color to your face," the woman continued with a worried look on her own face. Elora looked at the woman and replied, "Yeah I know. I hear it from my parents and Andros. I guess I haven't been feeling too well, huh?"

The woman put a hand on Elora's forehead and pulled it away quickly. "You're burning up! I think you should see Alpha 6 in Sick Bay." Noticing Elora's look that said, "I'll go after I eat" the woman continued, "Maybe you should take tomorrow off to relax. We don't want you to pass out on us in the middle of a battle."

"Relax, Cassie. Nothing like that's gonna happen to me. But, you do have a point, though," said Elora and continued, "I will admit that I must have been pushing myself too hard this past week and not realize it." She finished her meal and disposed of her tray. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the Enterprise or DS9 with the food replicator, though… she thought to herself. As she was heading to Sick Bay, she turned to T.J. and Cassie and added, "If the others are looking for me, tell 'em I'm in Sick Bay." And with that she went off to see Alpha 6.

"Cassie, you sure she's running a fever? She seemed fine to me during practice," T.J. remarked. He finished his meal, disposed of the tray and returned to his seat.

"T.J., you could literally fry an egg on her forehead," replied Cassie, who had begun her meal while T.J. disposed of his tray.

"I see, now. Remember, though-she's not mortal, like us," said T.J.

"I know, but she still is only a child. If Andros finds out—"

"If I find out what? Cassie, what's going on with Elora?" replied their leader, also wearing the same space uniform but wearing a red shirt instead. He leaned against the doorway and continued, "I hope she's not sick. If she is, then I'll make stay on the ship tomorrow. I don't care even if she is a goddess-"

"Technically a demi goddess," interjected T.J.

"Well, whatever," replied the man in red irritably. "She'll stay put until she gets better. I'd rather have her get well here than pass out in battle against Astronema's forces."

In came the other woman, also wearing the same space uniform like everyone else except she wore a yellow shirt. "Good point, Andros, but if we die out there who's going to bring us back from the dead if she's on the ship?"

As soon as she said that, there was an uneasy silence in the room. The others realized that the other woman had a point-Elora had the ability to raise the dead and had amazing healing abilities. It was only a week after Elora received her arm that she saved Carlos's life in a very intense battle against Ecliptor. If Elora hadn't been there, they would have buried one of their own.

"Why the long looks, guys?" asked another man who walked in. This man was also wearing a space uniform, except he wore a black shirt underneath the jacket and spoke with a Latino accent. "What happened?"

"Elora's been looking a little paler than usual, Carlos. She's on her way to Sick Bay to see Alpha," answered Andros finally. "Oh, come on, guys, cheer up. We'll be fine out there, with or without her," he said, trying to lighten the mood in the mess hall.

"Andros is right. Besides, she'll be fine, and so will we."

"Ashley, you have a point," replied Cassie, addressing the woman with the yellow shirt.

"I'll catch you guys, later, then," said T.J. as he rose from his chair and walked out of the room. The others, on the other hand, all got their meals and ate their dinner, now talking about the training regiment that they all went through.

"Elora, are you ok?" asked a little robot who noticed Elora walking into Sick Bay.

"Well, Alpha, that's your job to find out, right?" retorted the young Ranger. She hopped onto the bed and Alpha gave her a full examination. "Cassie says that I'm running a fever."

"She's right. Your temperature is 101 degrees."

"About three degrees higher than normal, huh?"

"Precisely 2.1 degrees above normal. Here," said the robot, handing Elora a cup of water and continued, " I want you to stay the night here, alright?"

"Ok," said Elora reluctantly. She wasn't too happy about having to stay in Sick Bay but she lay down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Sighing to herself, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

"Today is Sunday June 21, 1998. The time is 8:00 AM," announced the alarm clock on Dr. Clark's desk. She opened her eyes to look at the clock. As tired as she was from the day before, she still had a hard time wrapping her head around all the information Mr. Anderson gathered on this particular Ranger. "Why her? She's only a child," Dr. Clark said to herself. She got up, got dressed and headed to grab something for breakfast.

"'Be prepared', he said. What the hell does he mean by that? What danger could a child pose to—oh," said Dr. Clark, remembering the San Hieronymo takeover in late 1970. Her former friend Naked Snake had told her, Mr. Anderson (or Sigint, as he was known back then) and Major Zero about a young teen with incredible psychic powers. She had a dual personality; Elisa was the medic and the weaker of the two. Ursula, however, was the stronger of the two and a soldier in the FOX unit. Naked Snake had no choice but to fight her. After Naked Snake took out Gene (who had killed Ursula for betraying him), their group was formed and Naked Snake used Big Boss as his codename. Zero was still smarting from Big Boss's departure, even after all these years.

Then word got out that Big Boss's clone, Solid Snake, had defeated him at Outer Heaven three years ago.

Zero became genuinely concerned about Big Boss. They had been friends, once, but that was a long time ago. But Big Boss rebelled and founded Outer Heaven, a nation of soldiers built by soldiers. However, all anyone knew was that a rookie soldier going by the name of Solid Snake had defeated the Greatest Soldier of the Twentieth century. No one knew if Big Boss had survived.

But the news of a bunch of spandex-wearing superheroes, however, quickly turned Zero's attention elsewhere.

Zero immediately ordered Mr. Anderson to find out everything he could about this group.

Sigint had done his research as he was told and discovered all he could about them, save for their identities. He discovered that they were called the Power Rangers, dedicated to saving the world from the forces of evil. They had been fighting since 1880, but five years ago they had start up again. Seven teenagers made up this team. They also had mechas of their own, called Zords. Sigint thought of the possibility of altering one of these megazords that the Power Rangers were so fond of as a tactic of uniting the world under the Boss's ideals. Then Zero came to his office only last month and ordered Mr. Anderson to find out everything he could about one particular Ranger-the purple Ranger, in fact.

"But Zero, why this one?" asked Anderson curiously.

"Listen to me, DARPA chief, you'll find out soon enough," replied Zero. He meant business, Anderson noticed, and wanted no mistakes. "Oh, and good luck, Donald. You'll need it," finished Zero as he walked out of Anderson's office.

Anderson immediately set out to do his work. Zero had also left something on his desk-a rather big and thick gold coin, with the image of a three-clawed foot on it. Anderson picked up the coin and noticed its size. It was larger than a quarter and the image of the three-clawed foot was also on the other side of the coin. "I've never seen something like this, before. How did he get this? I heard a rumor that they were all gone. Oh well," said Anderson and he placed the coin down on the desk. Suddenly the coin levitated in the air and shot out a bolt of energy, hitting his laptop.

"What the hell? My laptop!" exclaimed Anderson. The coin continued to levitate next to the laptop and suddenly the monitor flickered. "Oh, my God, this is amazing!" exclaimed Anderson. It seemed that this strange coin had allowed him access to the database of the Power Rangers.

Sigint set about his work, typing in "Purple Ranger" into the search section. What he found left him in complete shock; the seventh "teenager" was in fact a child. This child apparently could turn into an adult once morphed. He now realized that this wasn't just their database-this was their Morphing Grid that he hacked into. Grabbing a notepad and a pen, Sigint wrote down all the information about this Ranger-her name, age, everything. A few hours went by as he did his assigned work, but he was so engrossed in his research that he never noticed the hunger pangs that clawed at his stomach the whole time. He also managed to print out a picture of her without her suit on and attached it to his notepad with a paperclip. As he was about to access information about the machines she used in battle, the coin shot another energy bolt at the laptop, knocking out the power, then the coin spun around and fired a powerful shot at Anderson, knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor.

Dr. Clark heard the commotion and rushed to Donald's office. What she saw almost made her heart stop. The laptop on his desk had been completely fried, the papers that were on his desk had been scattered all over the floor and as for Donald himself, he was on the floor, his shirt obviously badly burned and the chair destroyed along with the laptop.

"P-P-Para-Medic…help…me," said Anderson, before completely passing out.

"Guards! Help!" exclaimed the frightened doctor. She was so shocked by what she had heard and seen. Two guards came immediately, and after explaining that Anderson needed help, the men went into the office and took him to the infirmary. She entered the office and put out the now flaming laptop, noticed the coin and pocketed it for safekeeping.

"Today is Sunday June 21, 1998. The time is 12:00 P.M.," chimed the clock on the doctor's desk. Startled by the clock, Dr. Clark realized that she had dozed off while going over the contents of the folder and dreamed about Anderson finding out all he could about the child Ranger before the coin nearly killed him. Removing the coin from her pocket, she examined the coin and noted to herself the size, color and thickness of this coin. She also noticed a three-clawed foot on both sides of the coin as well. This is bigger than the Russian ruble. It must have sensed that he wasn't a Ranger and must have tried to kill him to protect this Morphing Grid, as he called it, she thought to herself. Realizing what Zero had in mind, she began to prepare the various medicines needed to at least knock the child out so she could properly be restrained. The rest, of course, was up to Zero.

"Hmm, I have a feeling I know where this is going and I don't like it," said Ocelot to himself. Ever since Anderson was almost killed two days before yesterday's meeting, Ocelot was beginning to have second thoughts about wanting to help Zero. After pouring over the information in the folder, he realized what Zero wanted and this was one plan that Ocelot wanted no part in. He wasn't going to deny that he wanted a united world like Zero did, (Ocelot remembered the various wars all too well) but what Zero wanted to do and how he wanted to unite all of the people of Earth was almost the straw that broke the camel's back. With these Power Rangers now fighting to defend their planet, it was obvious to Ocelot that his commanding officer wanted peace on Earth, by any means necessary, even if it meant the capture of an immortal Ranger like Elora Abbott. At the meeting that was to be held the next day, Ocelot decided not to voice his opinions. There was enough discord at it was in their group, the Patriots as they were called, and Ocelot didn't want to add to it.

"Now that I think about it, if I left the Patriots would be split in half," he said to himself amusingly. Taking another drag from his cigar and replacing it into the ashtray, he headed out of his office to grab something to eat.

"Ocelot, there you are," said Zero. "Have you gone over the—"

"Yes, I have. It's simply amazing," replied Ocelot, trying like hell to hide his disagreement with Zero.

"Is there something bothering you, Adamska?"

"No, Zero. Nothing wrong," came Ocelot's reply, taken back that Zero used his first name. "But, no one has called me that in a long time," he finished flatly.

"Well, you are my friend, correct?"

"Of course, Zero."

"Good. I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow." With that Zero turned on his heel and left Ocelot by himself in the mess hall. Ocelot grabbed his meal and returned to his office, wondering just what the hell did Zero meant by calling him by his first name.

Elora woke up the next day in Sick Bay, not feeling any better than the day before. Her head was now pounding beyond belief. So this is what Zeus went through when my older sister Athena was born, she thought miserably. However, this headache was somehow, different. She didn't know why, but she felt that this headache was unlike the ones she had before. A few minutes after she woke up with a headache, the pain only escalated and she had a vision-she saw a military base in the middle of a cold snowfield. She also saw a strange bipedal tank, with a giant gun of some sort for a right arm and a huge circular object that looked like a satellite dish on the left arm of the tank. She also saw a man, a man who would help destroy the tank and she herself would help him, the pair wearing bandannas, he wearing some sort of body armor like the police wear and she would be wearing a different suit. Not a Power Ranger suit, however, but a suit meant for stealth, only in her color and molded for her shape. She also saw a pack of huskies as well in the middle of the base. Elora also saw another man along with the other one. But this man had longish gray hair (similar in length to Carlos's hair) and he wore glasses and a white lab coat. A woman with short red hair carrying some sort of gun was also in her vision. Elora saw herself making friends with these three people.

Then the pain intensified, and she saw different people.

But this new group was not like the three she had just saw. She saw five men and one woman. One was a dead ringer for the first man she saw, save for the skin and hair color. Another looked like he was a bodybuilder, his head was covered with a tattoo of a raven, and he carried a rather large gun. This gun looked like it belonged on a tank, and not on this man's body as his weapon. The other was unusual as he only wore a tan colored trench coat. She sensed that he was good at impersonations; too good, however. Another man had long silver hair and looked like he belonged in a John Wayne flick, not in a military base. But this man, in her opinion, enjoyed torture a little too much. Perfect for Astronema's forces, she managed to think before the pain returned and the vision continued. She then saw the woman. This woman had great emotional pain, and carried a long gun. Elora realized that this was the group's sniper. The woman also was well endowed and also had long blonde-greenish hair. Elora felt immense pity for this woman.

Then she saw the final man, and the pain in Elora's head intensified than what it already was.

This man had psychic powers that rivaled both her and Andros's abilities combined as they stood at that point. His face was also horribly scarred, and he wore a gas mask over it. This man's powers were incredible. Elora knew her powers would be great, but she didn't believe that she'd encounter an enemy as powerful as this man.

This man would require cooperation between the man with the bandana, the redheaded woman and herself in order to properly stop him.

At long last, the vision ended, and she stopped screaming in pain.

Panting and sitting straight up, she realized that she had been screaming quite loudly, for the other Rangers ran into the room and wondered why she screamed.

Andros looked quite shocked out of them all, his red shirt completely saturated with sweat, his blonde and brown hair all over the place.

"What happened? We heard you screaming. Are you alright?" asked Andros, coming to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I had a vision, a strange vision," panted Elora, and continued, "I didn't realize that I was screaming, and my head hurts," she cried out, now holding her head in great pain. Tears came as her head was pounding from the intense vision. "It's driving me nuts!" Andros sat on the bed next to her and pulled her in for a hug. Releasing the hug, he calmly told her, "I had a vision, too. Did it involve a base of some sort?"

Looking up and wiping away a couple of tears, Elora replied, "Yes it did. There was one hell of a psychic. I've never felt that kind of power before, though. I feel like I just got jawed with a sledgehammer," said Elora, still in terrible pain and rubbing her jaw.

"Here you go, Elora," said Ashley as she handed the youngest Ranger a bottle.

"'Excedrin Migraine'?" read Elora.

"Yeah. It helped last time, didn't it?"

"I guess so," replied Elora, opened the bottle and took two pills. "Thanks, Ashley," she finished and handed the bottle to Andros.

"You're welcome," said Ashley as she handed the pair two cups of water.

"Last time? She had a vision like this before?" asked Andros after he followed suit.

"Yeah. She had one about a year ago, when Tommy was still at the Power Chamber," replied Ashley.

"It was about seeing Zordon telling a Red Ranger to kill him to save the universe," Elora said flatly.

"It gave everyone a good scare," said T.J. and continued, "especially Tommy. I'm not doubting you, Elora, it's just that this vision you had and the last one were well, just plain weird."

"All right T.J., then tell me this: why did Andros have the same vision like I did just now?" she deadpanned.

"Because we're both psychics, that's why," answered Andros. Agreeing with him, the group went to the mess hall to grab some breakfast.

Andros had a lot on his mind that morning, in part to the shared vision he and Elora had. True, he had better control over his abilities, but he decided that it was Elora who needed practice. At breakfast he handed her a napkin to wipe the blood off of her face from the nosebleed she also suffered. He assumed that for her, it was so powerful that it caused her to hemorrhage. Andros remembered that when his powers were developing, he too hemorrhaged as well, so he was sympathetic towards her.

"Let me train you today, Elora," said Andros.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Listen, when I was a kid I went through the same head-trip you're going through. I think you just need some practice, is all."

Elora thought it over and said, "Okay. Sounds like a good idea."

"We'll head for Earth in the meantime, then. If there's any trouble we'll let you guys know," said Cassie as she and the other three mortal Rangers headed to Earth.

"C'mon," said Andros, "let's go to the training room."

"Okay," said Elora as she followed him to the room.