02 Walls
DISCLAIMER – I do NOT own Power Rangers, S.P.D, or any character other than Austin.
(S.P.D theme plays)
After his strenuous first couple of days, Austin's first week at S.P.D academy went a bit more smoothly for he and the rest of B Squad. Sky still showed clear resentment at not being Red Ranger, however, which was becoming a recurring problem. In the meantime, A Squad had continued taking Zord duties, so the whole ordeal was becoming a bit of a disappointment.
Meanwhile, in space, Emperor Gruumm stood aboard his ship and thought aloud.
"If I know Cruger, he'll send his top soldiers to stop the attack, leaving Earth ripe for the picking," he surmised. After some further pondering, he finalized his plan and sent a small attack force to do the job.
That same day, the members of B-Squad arrived at Ops just in time to see A Squad rushing out. Filing in once the doorway was clear, they gathered around Commander Cruger to be briefed.
"Rangers, A Squad has been sent to deal with an attack in the nearby Helix nebula. Until they return, you five are Earth's primary defenders," he announced, "As such, you are hereby elevated to zord status, Lieutenants." Austin cheered inwardly.
"Thank you, sir," the five Rangers responded. The five Lieutenants were then dismissed.
Later in the day, B Squad spent some leisure time playing light ball, a futuristic version of dodge ball. Austin teamed with Z, the two facing Bridge and Syd. Sky, on the other hand, sat on the sidelines reading a book and eating popcorn. After a rather quick game in which Austin and his teammate easily defeated their opponents, the Red Ranger stepped over to his second in command.
"Come on, Sky, you should play with us," he remarked. The Blue Ranger shook his head.
"There's no time for games anymore. Emperor Gruumm's not playing around, and neither am I," he retorted. This did not sit well with one Pink Ranger.
"Come on, you used to love this game!" she begged. Before Sky could respond, the Rangers were interrupted by another loud siren. Dropping everything, they rushed towards Ops.
B Squad arrived in Ops to find Tommy running things while Cruger was out for unknown reasons. Kat and Hayley stood nearby at a terminal.
"What's the emergency?" Sky asked in a serious tone. Tommy brought up an image on a the main holo screen.
"A giant robot is attacking the city, likely piloted by one of Gruumm's monsters," he announced, "Use the Delta Runners to bring it down."
"I'll open the zord bay," Kat added. Within seconds, several of the room's outer panels lifted to reveal five holes, resembling the beginning of a water slide.
"Thanks Kat. Let's do it, guys!" Austin replied. The Rangers pulled out their morphers.
"S.P.D, emergency!" they cried. Morphing for only the second time- and their first as a full team- the Rangers jumped into the holes, sliding down tubes and into their respective zords.
"Delta Runners 1 through 5 are online," Hayley reported happily.
"Hayley, can you go finish up those two vehicles we were working on?" Kat asked, "I can take it from here." The redhead nodded at her fellow genius.
"Sure, I'll have them done in no time," she replied. As Hayley left the room, Tommy watched the Rangers engage their massive foe. Separately, the Delta Runners put up a good fight but were unable to finish the job.
"Kat, can those zords be combined?" Tommy asked. Kat nodded.
"I'm on it, Captain," she replied. The cat-like woman activated the comms on her terminal. "Austin, the Red Ranger has to initiate the formation of the Megazord," she remarked.
"Got it, Kat!" Austin replied, Before he could continue speaking, Sky cut in.
"You should have done that already, anyway," he barked, "You're breaking protocol.'
"Rangers don't use force until it's necessary, Sky," Austin lectured. The Blue Ranger rolled his eyes, but was interrupted by Bridge.
"Can you two fight after the fight?" the Green Ranger inquired.
"Yeah, cut it out!" Syd added, annoyed. Austin immediately activated the Megazord formation.
"Gladly. Form up, guys!" he instructed. Meanwhile, Tommy was rather disappointed by the Rangers' teamwork thus far.
"Kat, does Sky usually act like this?" he questioned. The feline alien shook her head.
"No; I think he's a bit peeved about not being the Red Ranger," she answered.
"That's an understatement," Tommy responded. Kat nodded sadly as the focus returned to the battle at hand. However, thanks to the delay Sky had caused, the robot was able to escape before the Megazord was fully formed. The five Rangers let out a collective groan and headed back to base.
Upon returning, the Rangers were summoned to S.P.D labs where Kat and Hayley were waiting for them. Once everyone was inside, Hayley spoke up.
"Using S.P.D technology along with the Raptor Cycle schematics, Kat and I have created two new additions to your arsenal," she announced. Kat used a remote to open one of the Lab's storage bays, revealing two white motorcycles with red and green decals respectively. Austin and Bridge immediately went in for a closer look, while Sky lagged behind.
"Sweet; I guess you could say Christmas came early this year!" Austin remarked excitedly. Bridge raised a finger in objection.
"Actually, Austin, I'm Jewish," he apologized, "But I suppose you could say Hanukkah came early."
"Okay," Austin replied. Meanwhile, Sky was not at all amused.
"How come they get new bikes?" he questioned. Sure, he had one too, but it was a standard S.P.D model and much bulkier.
"Something wrong with your bike, Sky?" Kat asked, glaring at him. Sky shook his head and left the room, the rest of the Rangers following soon after.
Later that afternoon, the Rangers were again summoned, and this time sent to deal with a Krybot diamond heist. Making use of the new patrol cycles, Austin led his team to the site of the attack. The Krybots were guarding two cooler-sized containers of diamonds with a teleporter on top. A mob of thirty or more krybots separated the Rangers from the gems, and only a couple minutes were left on the timer. Quickly, Austin came up with a plan.
"Bridge, you and I are gonna draw these guys off! Sky, Syd, Z, force your way through and disarm that teleporter!" he ordered. The others set straight to work, Sky and the girls making a beeline for the diamonds in their vehicles. Austin and Bridge, already morphed, used their cycles' maneuvering and lasers to draw the Krybots' fire and take them out. Meanwhile, the other three Rangers made it to the gems, but had no idea how to operate or deactivate the teleporter.
Austin and Bridge were held up significantly by the sheer number of Krybots they had to deal with. However, their bikes proved to be a decisive advantage, and soon they were headed to join the other Rangers. Unfortunately, by that time the teleporter's timer had run down to just under ten seconds, and there was no time for Bridge- the team genius- to look at it. With time running out, pressure mounting and no other solutions coming to mind, Austin decided to improvise.
"Everyone get back!" he shouted. As the others backed away, the Red Ranger used his cycle's blasters to destroy the teleporter, saving the diamonds. Austin and Bridge then powered down, and Z noticed a muffled sound coming from the van meant to transport the precious gemstones. Opening the rear doors, she found two workers tied up inside who knew absolutely nothing about the attack. Z set the two men free while Austin updated Commander Cruger. Suddenly, the situation suddenly became urgent when the head of S.P.D alerted the Red Ranger to an attack by a giant robot.
"Guys, we've got another situation on our hands," Austin announced, "Sky, stay here and guard the diamonds; everyone else, get to your vehicles!"
"Why does he get to stay with the diamonds?" Syd protested. Austin rolled his eyes.
"Fine, you can stay too," he added. Smiling, Syd joined Sky by the two crates of diamonds as the others headed back to base to retrieve the zords.
As it turned out, the robot from earlier had returned to wreak more havoc. Lacking two pieces of the Megazord, the three B-Squad Rangers were forced to improvise by using 'transformation delta'. This added a large blade resembling a plane wing to the left side of Austin's Delta Runner. The Red Ranger wasn't sure that this tactic would work, so he called Syd for backup. With the Pink Ranger en route, Austin managed to stand his Delta Runner up on the right side wheels and charge the giant robot.
The giant blade sliced through the robot with ease; perhaps the plan would work after all. Austin charged the robot a few more times, and finally the machine could take no more. A massive explosion left the area strewn with rubble, and forced the monster to ground level. Exiting their runners, Austin, Bridge and Z met up with Syd and- surprisingly- Sky as they engaged the monster. Austin was not at all happy to see the Blue Ranger, who should still have been protecting the diamonds.
"Sky, what are you doing here?" Austin demanded, "I ordered you to guard the diamonds!" Sky shrugged off his leader's comments.
"They'll be fine," he responded, "Besides, I'm more suited for battle." Austin wanted to slap the arrogant teen upside the head.
"That's not the point!" he shot back. Sky ignored him and produced his morpher to judge the monster for his crimes. As he went to speak, however, he found himself surprisingly cut off. "Lieutenant Tate, guilty or innocent of disobeying a direct order and compromising the mission?" Austin questioned, activating judgment mode on his own morpher.
"You can't be serious!" Sky retorted. Austin stared dead-faced at him through his helmet as the scan stopped on the infamous red 'X'.
"Guilty as charged," he confirmed, "Report to Ops for your punishment."
"Lieutenant Oliver, subdue the monster and then escort Sky to Ops afterward," Commander Cruger cut in over comms. However, as the Rangers turned their attention back to the metallic alien, they found it had escaped during the inter-team confrontation.
"The monster has escaped, sir," Austin radioed, "I'm sorry."
With their mission-gone-sour now over, B-Squad filed into Ops to be debriefed. As they had already deduced, Commander Cruger had returned just in time to see Austin and Sky's ill-timed altercation. The B-Squad Rangers lined up in front of the Sirian as he looked them over with an expression of anger and frustration. Clearly he was growing tired of their mistakes.
"Lieutenant Tate, with A Squad gone, this was the worst time for your selfishness," he growled, "Your decision to disobey Austin's orders and leave your post not only led to the monster's escape, but also allowed Gruumm to retrieve the diamonds. Unacceptable." Suddenly, the meeting was interrupted by an unusually high-pitched voice speaking with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Pardon the interruption, but you're only half right." Cruger and the Rangers turned to see what, by all appearances, was an anthropomorphic chipmunk. The young man was covered in a thin layer of creamy tan fur, which grew longer where most humans had hair. This supposed chipmunk had grey-blue eyes, and wore a black suit with a white dress shirt, black tie and black dress shoes. A pair of round, black glasses aided his vision.
"Are you the agent they were sending from MiB?" Commander Cruger questioned.
"Yes, sir; Agent S, at your service," the mysterious visitor answered. Sky couldn't remain silent any longer.
"Are you a…" he started. Agent S cut in immediately, having heard the question many times before.
"Chipmunk? No, Munkan actually," he explained, "My race is from a planet where what you call 'chipmunks' became the dominant race." This time, Bridge cut in, and actually managed to keep his speech brief for once.
"Wait, I thought aliens weren't allowed to be MiB agents," he remarked. Men in Black, the agency in question, was a once-secret organization that policed and monitored alien life on Earth, just like S.P.D.
"I was born on Earth, making me a citizen of this planet and thus eligible to be an agent," S responded, turning to Cruger, "As I was saying earlier, I vaporized that metallic alien on my way in."
"That's a relief," Cruger remarked, "Rangers, Agent S will be working with you to stop the Troobian Empire. He's here as part of a joint venture between S.P.D and MiB."
"No offense, sir, but just one agent?" Sky questioned. Cruger rolled his eyes.
"A single MiB agent can be a force all on their own," he explained, "Lieutenant Tate, see me for punishment. The rest of you, dismissed."
Half an hour later, Austin entered Sky's room to talk with him. The Blue Ranger was staring at a framed picture of himself sitting next to his father. He did not seem at all pleased to see his leader.
"So, how'd it go?" Austin inquired. The Blue Ranger looked up, annoyed.
"2 weeks on night watch, Mr. Leader," he growled. Austin persisted, wanting to get through to Sky and ease the rivalry, much like he and Conner had done before.
"Look, I wanted you to guard the diamonds because I was pretty sure those Krybots were coming back," he explained, "You're our best fighter, so I knew you'd have the best chance on your own." Sky paused, dwelling over the comments for a moment.
"...that does make sense," he admitted, "I suppose I should have trusted your judgment; clearly Cruger didn't make you Red Ranger for laughs." Austin couldn't help but smile.
"That's a fact," he replied, "That being said, I know we've had some issues, but I'm willing to work with you if you're willing to work with me. What do you say?" Sky paused for only a second as Austin extended a hand.
"Well, it's not working butting heads," he responded. The two shook hands, and then Austin moved to leave. He stopped halfway, however, remembering something.
"Hey, we're gonna play some more light ball if you want to come," he remarked. Sky started to decline, but wound up looking at the light ball glove on his dresser.
"Alright, but I warn you: I don't play, I win," he responded. Austin just grinned as he led the way to the rec room and what was sure to be a very competitive game.
Later that evening, Austin Oliver sat idly in the newly redone cafe, now officially renamed. As he took a sip of his soda, he noticed none other than Agent S entering the Cyberspace. Even more surprising, the Munkan took a seat next to him at the bar. After ordering a full meal, Agent S suddenly turned his attention to the young Red Ranger.
"So, you're Austin Oliver," he remarked, "You look younger than I expected." Austin took another drink before speaking.
"Yeah… one of Mesogog's monsters shrank me down to age 8," he explained sadly, "It's been a year since then, but I don't seem to be growing much." Agent S didn't pause for even a moment to think.
"Had you stopped growing by that time?" he asked. Austin nodded hesitantly.
"Pretty much, yeah," he admitted. S nodded as his suspicions were confirmed.
"In that case, your body is likely in a post-puberty state even though you've been regressed; you'll be stuck that size forever," he deduced. Austin frowned, his head coming to rest on the bar.
"Great…" he moaned. Agent S put a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"You know, you're not alone. We're in the same boat," he admitted, "The average Munkan is two feet shorter than the average human. I'm actually tall for my species, and I still get mistaken for a child." Austin was taken aback by this information; his situation was trivial compared to that of Agent S!
"That's horrible! I'm sorry you have to deal with that..." he remarked, looking over at his mysterious acquaintance. For the first time, their gazes locked; one pair of gray-blue eyes meeting another. S had never seen anyone with quite the same eye color as himself before; a unique shade that- in the right light- could be mistaken for hazel. The two remained transfixed for some time, until Hayley walked over.
"Hey, you two okay?" she asked, snapping them out of it. The two shook their heads, turning away with reddened faces.
"Fine, mom..." Austin muttered, taking a drink to calm his nerves. Agent S returned his focus to the meal in front of him, remaining silent for several minutes.
"...sorry about that. It was kind of awkward," he apologized after a while. Austin shook his head.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," he insisted. A short pause. "You know, it sucks that MiB is all 'no identity' and stuff. It'd be nice to get to know you," the Red Ranger added. Despite attempting to restrain himself, Agent S could feel a half smile force its way onto his face. His emotions were out of control, and he had a pretty good idea why.
"Yeah," he replied bluntly. Finishing his meal, he stood to leave but quickly turned back. "Where's room 250?"
"It's next door to mine, actually; I'll take you there," Austin replied, getting to his feet. The two young men walked together to the elevator, the Red Ranger pressing the button for floor two. Upon arriving on said floor, Austin led Simon to the right and towards rooms 226 through 250. Coming to a stop in front of 249, Austin indicated the only room beyond it.
"Great; end of the hall," S muttered, "At least I'm close to a staircase…" Austin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as if hiding something.
"At least we don't have many people down this far," he pointed out. S had to admit that was a nice plus; fewer people, fewer questions. "Anyway, I'm going to turn in for the night. See you tomorrow, Agent S." The mysterious Munkan nodded before turning to enter his room. A light blush appeared on his face as he stopped for only a moment, uttering three words he thought he'd never say again.
"Call me Simon."