Chapter 2: True Intentions

Rosela had made it to the square where flashing, colorful lights were all over the streets, making the place dazzling to her delight.

She sat on a bench as she looked around for Ty. She was a little confused that he wasn't here yet since it was already 7:30. Was he running a little late? But wouldn't he have called to tell her that?

She was getting concerned as she digged in her left pocket to pull out her phone. She was about to dial Ty's number, but when she looked at the phone's black screen, she saw a shadow's reflection...which told her someone was on the building roof behind her.

She narrowed her eyes on the reflection to see whose silhouette it was... The shape did look familiar... In fact, it looked hauntingly familiar. The shadow was the shape of a villain she once met right after she had graduated from Ranger Academy.

She quickly stood on her feet and turned around to see if her suspicions were right, but when she looked at the roof, there was no one there at all... She put her right hand on her beating heart, asking herself if it was all just in her imagination.

"I sure hope so. I never want to see him again."

That villain she had met was a robot villain who secretly kidnapped her from Star Command and kept her captive in his vessel for three days to make the Space Rangers believe he was going to use her for ransom.

At first Rosela didn't know who he was or what sort of villainy he did because no one on Star Command had ever told her about him, even though she did learn he was created by Evil Emperor Zurg which was all she could learn from him.

During her stay, she tried to help him see that a villain's life wasn't worthwhile and that he ought to make friends with people. She believed he was taking her words into consideration. To her surprise, he even spent a good time with her, like dancing.

On the final day in his vessel, he claimed that Rosela was right and that he would change the error of his ways and make peace with Star Command. Rosela was overjoyed and she promised she would convince her fellow Rangers he had changed...

To her heartbreak, he lied to her just to make her let her guard down so he could control her Ranger suit which meant he could control her movements like a puppet and force her to attack the Rangers who he knew wouldn't hurt her because he knew how much they liked her which was why he had chosen her to be his weapon and shield.

Thankfully, when Rosela was forced to attack, she managed to free herself from his control by damaging her suit to his disbelief. He escaped from Star Command, leaving the Rangers in complete dismay that he was alive.

Rosela asked her friends what they meant about him 'being alive', so Ty and Team Lightyear told her everything about him. Rosela was horrified to learn that he was an energy-craving monster that feasts on innocent robots and he even used Ty whom he turned into a wirewolf to do his evil bidding.

Ty mentioned that he destroyed that villain on Planet Z, and that was why the Rangers didn't understand how he could still be operational. Rosela had the idea that Zurg must've fixed him and erased all of his memories of Ty so he wouldn't use Ranger Parsec to betray the evil emperor again.

Buzz agreed with Rosela's theory because Zurg wouldn't let a potentially dangerous creation go to waste. The Rangers were of course deeply disturbed that he was back again and they knew he would cause trouble very soon.

What Rosela didn't know was that Ty wanted to protect her from him because Ranger Parsec believed he would want revenge on her for ruining his plans, so that was one of the main reasons he wanted to be partners with her.

Now Rosela had thought she had seen that villain's silhouette on the roof, but then she told herself that it was impossible. He couldn't have made it past Capital Planet's defenses.

"But...didn't Warp Darkmatter manage to do that himself...? No... No, I'm just thinking things. He's not here. He's not here."

Rosela was about to call Ty, then she looked up to see Ty from a distance, his back to her so that meant he couldn't see her. She was relieved to see him as she put her phone away and walked up to him. As she did, he turned the corner to her confusion.

"I don't understand. Why isn't he coming where he asked me to meet him?"

As Rosela kept going, there was someone hiding in an alley close to where she saw Ty disappear to. That unknown person was hanging himself upside-down from a building's ledge as he saw her coming.

"Yes, my dear," he whispered with relish, "come to me."

Rosela was about to run to find Ty when she heard a noise behind her. She looked over her right shoulder to see a certain robot who had accidentally knocked down a sealed trash can that he made stand up.

Rosela's eyes widened slightly when she recognized him. He noticed her, too, and he tried to hide himself behind the trash can, but it was too late. He was busted.

Rosela frowned when she marched up to the trash can that she carefully pushed out of the way with her left foot, her hands on her hips when she looked at the little robot who grinned nervously and waved at her.

"Rosie, hey, how are ya?"

The unknown person who was still hanging from his ledge was surprised and angered when he also saw the little robot.

"X.R, what are you doing here?" Rosela asked, sounding a bit irked.

The unknown person narrowed his red eyes angrily. "Yes, Little One, what are you doing here?" he whispered through gritted teeth.

"I..." X.R started, playing with his purple fingers. "Uh... That is..."

"Were you gonna spy on Ty and me, weren't you?"

"Spy? Why does everybody think I'd spy? I was..." X.R stopped himself because he couldn't reveal he knew Ty and Rosela liked each other. "I just..."

Rosela wasn't going to listen to his excuses. "X.R, please go back to the hotel or go play somewhere else," she ordered firmly. "Because you are not following us. Am I clear, mister?"

X.R hung his head in shame, his hands behind him. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good," Rosela nodded before pointing her finger ahead of her. "Now please get goin'. And we will talk about this later."

The Ranger bot had started going the other way, then Rosela resumed her search for Ty. X.R couldn't help but glance at where was Rosela sprinting off to. Then X.R noticed a shadow moving on the rooftop on the next block...

X.R stopped moving when he started to think that that shadow looked sort of familiar... It moved fast and its shape and size rang a few bells... His yellow optics widened when he began to get a dreaful thought.

"No, no, no. It couldn't be. Even he can't make it to Capital Planet," he dismissed, folding his arms. "There's just no way... Then again, Warp's sneaked to Capital Planet more than once, so..."

X.R looked in the direction Rosela went as he started to get very worried. Should he go after Rosela and Ty?

"But what if I'm wrong? And even if I tell them what I thought I saw, they might think I'm making excuses..."

Still, X.R really wanted to make sure that that wasn't who he thought it was...

"Oh, please, let it not be who it is. Please," he begged as he headed in Rosela's direction.


Rosela had been running a little as she tried to find Ty whom she thought she had lost track of.

"Goodness, where is he?" she asked as she looked around. "And why wasn't he coming at the square?" She sighed as she reached for her phone. "That's it, I'm callin' him right now. 'Cause this is gettin' silly."

Just as Rosela took out her phone, X.R had found her. He was glad she was okay, but he wondered what happened to Ty who was nowhere to be seen.

"Shouldn't he have been at the square?" X.R asked himself quietly, rubbing his glass helmet confusedly. "That is where Rosie said he was going to meet her."

Suddenly, X.R yelled in fright as he felt himself being pushed into a dark alley. Rosela heard that yelling that sounded just like X.R.

"Is X.R spyin' on us again?" Rosela felt steamed as she started looking for the little bot. "I am gonna kill him!"

X.R had his optics closed until he felt himself being pressed against a brick wall.

"So...spying on our friends, are we, Little One?" said a familiar voice that X.R had always feared. The Ranger bot looked to see it was in fact the very robotic villain who had been every robot's nightmare for too long. "Now that's not what friends should do," he lectured with the same smirk that always haunted X.R.

"Nos-4-A2!"

"None other."

"But...you can't be on Capital Planet!" X.R denied. "How'd you get pass the defenses?"

"I have ways," Nos-4-A2 answered simply. "Just like I have ways to trick a certain human girl into thinking she was going to meet someone at the square."

X.R was horrified to know this. "You mean, you impersonated as Ty and called her to come to the square alone?"

Nos-4-A2 grinned, impressed with X.R's deduction. "Very good guess, Little One. I guess you are more brain food than junk food than I thought."

"Wh-what are you gonna do to her?"

"That is for me to know and for her to find out." Nos-4-A2's face then turned into a deadly look. "And I do not want witnesses. Now you're going to learn the consequences of meddling into other people's affairs, but I will give you this small piece of good news: Though I'd like to make your demise as slow as possible, I'll just do this swiftly since I'm in a hurry."

X.R shook terribly, not believing this was happening. Nos-4-A2 was going to finish him off and he was going to take his personal revenge against Rosela?

X.R closed his optics as he braced for his death when Nos-4-A2 leaned close to the little guy's power pack to steal all of his energy.

Before his fangs touched X.R's neck, Nos-4-A2 felt himself being pulled back as Rosela grabbed his cape and swung him away from X.R who looked to see Rosela who had come to his rescue.

Nos-4-A2 ended up flying into the opposite wall before falling on the ground, stunned from the impact.

X.R saw a flag above the energy vampire and had an idea.

"Rosie, stand back!"

X.R stood in front of Rosela as he used his blaster to shoot the flag down and drop right onto Nos-4-A2 who struggled viciously under the large flag.

X.R held Rosela in his arms as he used his built-in jetpack to fly in the air.

Nos-4-A2 used his claws to tear the flag to shreds, looking around with a enraged look to find that both Rosela and X.R were gone.

He spread his holographic orange wings, taking off in the air in a fierce search for the two.

"I couldn't care less whether I literally suck the life out of that insufferable robot Ranger or not. But one way or another, I will have her!"

As X.R kept flying with Rosela in his hold, she asked, "X.R, are you all right?"

"Yeah, and, boy, do I owe you big time," X.R smiled.

Rosela grinned, grateful she had saved her little comrade.

"And to think, I thought of killing him when Nos-4-A2 was to do it for real." "X.R, how did Nos-4-A2 get to Capital Planet?"

"I don't know...but I know why he's here..." X.R said regretfully. "He's after you."

"I'm not surprised," Rosela said grimly. "I did ruin his plans, so of course he'd be after me." She blinked when she realized something. "Wait a minute, you mean, he made me think Ty was meeting me here?"

"Yeah, and he was going to wipe me out because I'm a witness."

"Okay, we've got to get back to the hotel and tell the others. While you fly, I'll call them." Rosela pulled out her phone and dialed for Mira's phone number, but the phone couldn't get a signal at all. "What's wrong with this stupid thing?" Rosela hissed angrily. "My phone should be workin' just fine."

"Hang on, let me try my communicator." Rosela wrapped her arms around X.R's shoulders as he tried using his wrist communicator, but it wasn't working, either. "Hey, what gives!" he cried in distress.

Rosela looked over X.R's shoulder and saw Nos-4-A2 flying straight at them. "X.R, he's right there!" Rosela warned. X.R gasped when he, too, saw the killing machine. X.R held onto Rosela as he tried to evade him by flying around buildings.

This chase was only throwing the two Rangers off coarse from the hotel. Rosela knew sooner or later Nos-4-A2 would catch up...

Then she spotted something down below. It was a delivery service which brings stuff to the hotel.

"X.R, land there! I have an idea!"

"Whatever the idea is, I love it and let's do it!" X.R proclaimed.

X.R managed to land close to the door. Rosela stood on her feet as she took X.R's right arm and pulled him inside.

"I don't think he saw us come in, but we have to do this quickly," Rosela said as she led the way down a long hall. "This place imports stuff to the hotel...so maybe we can get a lift."

"Oh, I get it, we'll ask someone to take us safely to the hotel," X.R thought. "Brilliant!"

"X.R doesn't realize the full plan yet...and when he does, he won't love it."

Rosela saw a room that said "Speed Delivery". Rosela took X.R inside for them to see a small red delivery container.

"X.R, this is the quickest way to get back to the hotel."

"Wait, you're saying we ride in this?"

"It's fast and it leads straight to the hotel. It's perfectly safe," Rosela said as she let go of X.R and opened the container's door.

"But how can you and I fit in there?"

"Don't worry about that. You step inside and I'll set the coordinates. Just trust me."

X.R was about to protest, but Rosela gently pushed him inside the container before she pressed the buttons to set the coordinates for the hotel.

"Okay, X.R," Rosela announced as she walked back to the container, touching the door. "This should take you to safety. You'll be just fine."

X.R was baffled by what she was talking about, then Rosela closed and locked the door...without getting herself into the container along with him!

"Wait, wait!" X.R cried, his hands on the window. "Rosie, what are you doing?"

"Only you can get away, X.R. You have to get back to the hotel and warn the others."

"I have to go back? What about you?"

"I'll try to elude Nos-4-A2 the best I can until you get help. It's up to you."

X.R didn't want this. He didn't want to leave Rosela behind when Nos-4-A2 was still out there.

"Rosie, no, wait!" he pleaded, banging his hands on the window.

"Good luck, X.R," Rosela said with a smile.

Then just like that, the container was sucked into the hole in the ground, going faster than the speed of light as X.R yelled, "Rosie! Rosie...!"

X.R put his hands on his helmet as his optics shedded tears. "Oh, why? Why?" he sobbed. "This isn't fair..."

X.R slowly slid his hands off his glass helmet, then Rosela's request to find backup echoed in his mind.

He tightened his fists as he told himself, "Get ahold of yourself, Ranger. Rosie told you to get the guys, and that's what you're going to do. Besides, Rosie always has ways to make things difficult for her enemies. She won't get caught that easily."

At least...X.R hoped so...


Rosela was relieved she had saved X.R. There was no sense of X.R getting killed along with her in case Nos-4-A2 caught up.

Rosela then started to wonder if she ought to just hide in this delivery room until X.R got help.

"I might as well... Without my jet-pack, I'm grounded and it's hard to get away from an enemy with wings."

Then, to her complete shock, the door opened quietly but quickly, a shadow looming on the wall in front of Rosela who knew very well whose shadow it was which almost made her heart stop.

She turned sharply to see Nos-4-A2 himself standing right before her. She felt frozen when she was face-to-face with the villain who once lied to her and used her to attack her fellow Rangers.

Nos-4-A2 looked to see Rosela whom he smiled at her which only sent chills down her spine.

"Rosela. Dearest, sweetest loveliest Rosela," he pronounced.

Rosela slightly raised her eyebrow in confusion as she asked herself, "Why is he saying nice words when he's seeking vengeance?"

"How'd you know we came in here?" Rosela asked, wanting to make him talk before he decided to grab her.

"Simple," he replied, pointing his left finger on his left optic. "My monocle helped me track the Little One's jet-pack trail that I can see even in the dark. Pretty convenient, wouldn't you agree?"

Nos-4-A2 blinked in confusion when he tried looking for someone else in the room. "Now where is the Little One?"

"Not on the menu," she answered clearly, giving the villain a firm look. "You'll never get your fangs on him now."

Nos-4-A2 noticed the delivery shuttle behind her which helped him figure out how she got X.R away.

"So you literally delivered him to safety, did you?" He grinned as he shrugged. "Oh, well, that's that. Normally, I'd love to have my revenge on that infuriating tin of snack chips..." His grin grew bigger which gave Rosela chills again. "...but everything I want is right in front of me."

Rosela didn't know what to do. She didn't have her weapons, her suit, her jet-pack, nothing. So she decided to do what she did best: improvise.

"Please, tell me, how'd you get to Capital Planet?"

"Why, I flew here, of course," he teased, but she wasn't amused.

"I mean, how'd you get past the planet's defenses?" she asked calmly.

"Oh, it's just a little thing called a cloaking device that I installed myself with a while back. It doesn't make my body invisible, but it helps me hide under defense radars... Quite literally."

"How handy," Rosela remarked flatly. "Now I don't have to ask how you tricked me into coming to the square. You obviously changed your voice to sound like Ty's."

"Correct, my dear," he replied with a grin, motioning his left hand to her. "Of course," he added, swiftly bringing his hand back to himself, "I didn't count on Little One following you, but that matters not." He smiled as he held his claws in front of himself, ready to touch her. "You will come with me now."

Rosela stood still as he floated towards her, his arms just three inches from her. To his bewilderment, she held his wrists and flipped him over her head until his back hit the floor.

"I'll have to pass, thank you," she called on her way out as she turned right and ran straight for the exit.

He sat straight up with an unsatisfied frown on his face as he looked at the door. "Why must women play hard to get?" He stood up as he smoothed out his cape, a grin on his lips. "But...I'm up for a little game of tag."

Rosela really didn't know where to go. She didn't even know how to find her way back to the hotel. All she wanted right now was to get away from him.

When she came outside, she saw an abandoned metal bar on the ground and picked it up, then she went off to find someplace to hide. She approached a dark alley that she thought she could stay in for the moment.

She crouched behind a pile of crates as she held the metal bar against her chest as she breathed slowly, her heart pounding from all of this terror. She badly wished for X.R to bring help before that crazed vampire found her.

She heard a familiar flapping coming from electrical wings and saw a red light touching the alley's walls. She knew Nos-4-A2 was flying, so she stayed perfectly still until he would leave.

Nos-4-A2 searched carefully around the alley, then he spotted a pile of crates which made him smirk when he realized where his target was. He flew out of the alley to make Rosela think he left, then he hid his wings and attached himself to the alley wall that he climbed on.

He carefully crawled across the wall until he could see the pile of crates below him and he found Rosela was indeed hiding there. He grinned as he started quietly climbing down.

Rosela peeked over the crates and saw no sign of Nos-4-A2 at first, but then she heard something clicking against the wall above her. She glanced upwards and she could make out someone climbing down the wall. Her eyes widened when she knew who it was.

With lightning speed, she jumped over the crates to his astonishment and aggravation as he detached himself from the wall and tried to grab her.

Rosela tried to time it perfectly by looking at his shadow on the alley wall on her left. And when he was getting close, she swung her metal bar at him but he caught the metal bar in his left hand with ease, leaving Rosela dismayed.

Nos-4-A2 had a calm smile when he looked at the metal bar that he pulled out of Rosela's hands, studying her weapon with an amused expression.

"A metal bar?" he queried, looking at her with a smile that striked fear in her heart. "Now that's adorable. Pitiful, but adorable. Though I suppose," he said as he twirled the metal bar in his left fingers, "without your Space Ranger suit, your options for protecting yourself are limited."

Rosela glanced to the right when she spotted a rag on a crate next to her. She quickly grabbed the large rag and threw it at his face, making him drop the metal bar as Rosela turned around and ran for it.

Rosela was starting to think she was done for. The more she was eluding him, the more she thought it would have angered him to make her death more painful.

Then she spotted a construction zone ahead of her. It was a 15-floor skycraper that looked like it was almost completed.

Nos-4-A2 took to the skies, already getting very tired of this game. He used his red optics as binoculars to help him see Rosela who just stepped inside a skyscraper.

He grinned evilly, putting his hands together. "Now I have her."

Rosela ran all the way up the 15th floor, her legs starting to hurt when she finally climbed all of the stairs. She panted for a moment, then she stepped inside a room with a glass door.

When Rosela closed the glass door, she could see in the reflection someone standing behind her...someone with glowing red eyes and a victorious grin on his metal face.

"Him!"

Rosela gasped, then she felt his right hand covering her mouth, his left arm wrapping around her arms and waist, keeping her close to his chest.

He leaned close to her right ear. "Tag. You're it," he sang.

Rosela's heart sank as a tear fell down her right cheek. "This is it. I'm so sorry, X.R. I did my best."

Rosela closed her eyes as she braced herself for her demise as she shook with fear.

Nos-4-A2 could feel her shaking and he caught a glimpse of a tear on her face.

He smiled calmly as he whispered, "Calm yourself, Rosela. I didn't do all this to destroy you."

Rosela was stunned as she opened her eyes and held herself still.

"He...doesn't want to destroy me?"

Nos-4-A2 put her on her feet and gently turned her to face him as he made her lean against the door, his hands on her shoulders.

"That's what you thought this was about, isn't it?" he queried with a grin. "You thought I wanted revenge on you for ruining my plans, didn't you?"

His left hand held a lock of her red hair that he used to wipe the tear off her face.

"Well, you can put that thought to rest because that's not what I've come to Capital Planet for."

Rosela couldn't believe what she was hearing. He had no vendetta? But from what she had learned about him from her friends, he would always want revenge against his enemies...but if he did, he would have killed her right now and he would kill without hesitation.

"So he really doesn't want revenge..." Rosela realized. "So what do you want, then?" She had a firm look when she thought of something as she pushed his hand out of her hair. "Let me guess, you want to use me for another evil plan?"

He laughed in response, waving his left hand dismissively. "Oh, no, that's not it at all. I know better than to use you as a tool ever again."

Rosela felt dumbfounded. He doesn't want revenge or to use her for any plans...? What was he playing at?

"Then what could this possibly be about?" "Dare I ask."

Nos-4-A2 smiled at her as he put his left hand back on her shoulder. "You really can't tell?" he questioned, tracing his right finger on her left cheek. "Now think carefully, Rosela. If this isn't about revenge or any evil plot, what, oh, what could this mean?"

Rosela was frightened from his touch on her face, but she moved her eyes to look at the floor as she tried to understand what this was about.

"If he doesn't want to hurt me or use me... Well...what-"

Then she felt his finger tracing down her neck to her shoulder to her arm which was scaring her to death, but then she felt his right hand wrapping itself around her left hand, his thumb rubbing on her knuckles.

Rosela's eyes widened when she had a horrible realization. "No... No way."

Nos-4-A2 noticed her expression and smirked. "Ah, I think you know the answer," he pronounced.

"Yes...but I'd rather hear you say it," she requested, though she was terrified to know the truth. His right hand tilted her chin up again, his smirk never faltering.

"Gladly," he replied, holding her left hand close to him. "Simply put, dear Rosela, after our encounter on Star Command, I've missed the pleasure of your charming company. In fact, I've missed it terribly." He gently squeezed her hand as he finished. "Which is why I've decided I would stop at nothing to have you at my side again."

He brought her hand close to his face, then to her complete shock, she felt his cold lips touching her hand that he kept kissing for several seconds.

"No...no..." Rosela denied, not wanting to believe this. "He actually... But he can't. If he does, then..he'll never let me go..."

The thought of something so unbearably horrible made her feel dizzy to the point where she fainted and started to fall. Nos-4-A2 caught her in his arms, then he tilted her chin to see she was unconscious.

He grinned as he gently had her sit against the door so he could slip his cape off his shoulders and wrap it around Rosela to keep her warm.

He held her bridal style, looking fondly at her for a moment before he flew out of the window, holding an unconscious Rosela close as he set off into the night with his prize.