House of The End
Chapter 2: Fade to Black
A/N: Well, last time, the world was taken over by an evil computer virus. The battle of Corinth City ensued, where lots of people lost something, and lots of people safely made it to the large city. Nina and Fabian had lost their eldest daughter, but Nina knew she would return someday. A year had passed, and Bailey and Dillon were traveling together to Corinth when they ran into Ziggy. Together, the three ran the barricade and witnessed the power rangers fight. Dillon doesn't know what a power ranger is.
What'll happen now?
Disclaimer: I only own things not originally in the show, such as Bailey.
"What do you mean what's a power ranger?" Ziggy demanded as he and Bailey stared at Dillon in shock. Had he seriously never heard of the power rangers? Bailey knew about them, since her mother was a public identity one. Ziggy knew because he had heard stories about them. "There. That. Those." They watched as the rangers continued to fight the attack bot.
"Looks like they've got this in the bag," Bailey commented, watching as the rangers combined their weapons to destroy the robot. The three got out of the car and stood by it. "To answer your question, Dillon, power rangers are a group of spandex-wearing superheroes that fight off evil aliens, robots, or some form of mutant freaks to protect the world from being taken over."
"If they're supposed to prevent the world from being taken over, then why did Venjix get past them?" Dillon questioned.
"Half the rangers don't have powers they can use anymore," Bailey explained. Over the years, her mother and the other samurai rangers have gotten to know other ranger teams quite well. "Those who do did their best, and in their defense, there hasn't been an active team since 2025, which, if my math is correct, was thirteen years ago."
Dillon appeared to be in thought as the rangers called upon their zords. "What are those?"
"Zords," Bailey replied at the ready. The rangers began fighting off the drones heading their way. "They help the rangers fight off monsters when the monster grows to be about thirty stories high. Or in this case, take on Venjix drones. They can combine the zords to form what's known as a megazord, which gives them a bit more power."
"How do you know so much about the rangers?" Ziggy turned to the blonde beside him.
"Helps when your mother was a well known one," she muttered, keeping her eyes on the fight and mentally examining the strategies being used. "My mom got to know quite a few rangers over the years."
As they were being fired upon, Bailey wasted no time in digging her samurizer out and tracing a symbol. When she cast it, a protective and invisible shield showed up around the three. Dillon, having seen her use symbols before, was used to this. Ziggy, however, was curious as to why lasers being fired at them were no longer hitting them. Nearby them, grinders were setting up some sort of laser thing to fire at the rangers.
"Look," Ziggy pointed out. "Grinders. They're gonna ambush yellow."
"I hate grinders," Dillon muttered. He hopped into the car and tried to start it. The other two stood out of the way, Bailey knowing what her friend was going to do. Dillon punched the dashboard and the car started. He put it in reverse and stepped on the gas pedal, backing straight into the laser the grinders were setting up. It caused the laser to instead shoot at the attacking drones.
"Thank you," the yellow ranger called down. "Whoever you are."
Dillon stepped out of the car as Bailey knocked out a few grinders on the ground. The city shield went back up and the city gates were closed. The attack bot reappeared at a larger size, much like Bailey had mentioned to the two boys earlier. The rangers combined their zords to form the megazord and began fighting it. With a hit from their giant sword, the attack bot was down for good.
The rangers appeared on the ground and the yellow one ran over to the three. She pushed a button on her morpher and her helmet vanished. A police siren could be heard as a jeep pulled in. "Hey," the girl spoke. "I don't know how to thank you."
"You could start with some gas," Dillon answered. "Maybe some water, and I'll be on my way." A soldier roughly turned him around, gaining the attention of the others. "Look, I'm not staying."
"It's cool guys," Ziggy assured. "I'm tight with my main amigo here, Mr. Hero himself. We're like brothers." A scanner was run over Dillon.
"Sir, he's an infiltrator," the soldier running the scan stated.
"Sir," the head of the crew spoke into the communication system. "Picking up internal Venjix hardware, sir…generation seven, at least."
The soldiers began dragging Dillon, Bailey, and Ziggy toward the jeep. Bailey managed to flip over the soldiers escorting her, breaking from their hold. When she did so, the red ranger caught sight of a familiar necklace around her neck. Recognizing a childhood friend, Scott ran over to the soldiers. "Whoa, hey, let her go. She's not a threat."
"Thanks Scott," Bailey thanked, recognizing the boy. Ever since her family has been living in Corinth City and began working with the Truman family, she and Scott had become close friends, despite the boy being a couple years older. The soldiers went to help their other coworkers. Scott wrapped an arm around Bailey and led her over to the rangers. "So, how are my parents doing?"
"They've been worried for over a year," Scott replied. He could see his teammates were confused. "Put everything they had into making us three rangers."
"Uh, Scott, mind giving us an introduction?" Flynn wondered as they headed for the cars. "Who is this lass?"
Bailey rolled her eyes and introduced herself. "Bailey Rutter. I believe my parents are your mentors, Nina and Fabian Rutter?"
"You're the daughter they haven't stopped searching for?" the other blonde frowned. Bailey nodded, assuming she was.
"Come on," Scott ordered. "Let's not delay the family reunion any longer.
"So this is the top secret garage," Bailey commented as the rangers led her into the room. Scott and Flynn set down a scrap from the attack bot in the bed of Flynn's car. Summer ran a scan over it. "Always wondered what it looked like. Mom and dad never let us kids near it." She knew her parents had been working on this project ever since they first moved to Corinth years ago.
"Yeah, it is," Scott nodded. He turned to the computer screen that was white with a black K on it. "So, what are we looking at here, doc?"
"Something different," Dr. K replied. "Radically advanced. Venjix technology is evolving at an exponential rate. If we don't upgrade the firepower in our zord configurations, Venjix will overrun the city within a month."
"We're gonna have to activate series black," Flynn realized.
"And series pink," Scott added, shooting a discreet look to Bailey. He knew the pink ranger suit was made specifically for her. "There's no way around it. Unfortunately, we don't have an operator that can handle the series black bio hardware. Where are we supposed to find one now?" The two boys walked away, leaving the girls alone.
Bailey turned to Summer and caught a thoughtful look on the older blonde's face. "If you give me five minutes to change into something more comfortable, I'll go with you."
"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Summer turned to her.
"Because I was planning to go try and bail him out," Bailey shrugged.
After getting a change of clothes and learning her parents were in the Panorama province for the day, as they had been the past couple of days, the two girls set off for the Corinth province prison. They arrived and watched as Dillon was being interrogated by the Colonel, not wanting to interfere yet. Bailey knew her return would shock the Colonel, so she didn't want to speak up just yet. They watched as Dillon moved quickly to prevent a glass of water from hitting the floor. After hearing Dillon's response to how the Colonel should determine what he was and who he sided with, Summer finally spoke up.
"Colonel, can we please have a minute?" she called. The Colonel slowly turned his head toward them, shock lighting up his face when he saw Bailey. He and Hicks exited the cell.
"Be my guest," he offered. "Would you like me to let your parents know you've returned?"
"Let them be surprised," Bailey denied. The Colonel nodded before leaving, letting the two girls into the cell.
"Alone at last," Dillon commented as the girls took a seat. "Can I be honest with you?"
"Give it a shot," Summer shrugged.
Dillon nodded. "Yellow is definitely not your color." Bailey rolled her eyes before proceeding to smack her friend upside the head. "What?"
"Don't be rude to us," she answered. "We're trying to find a way to get you out of here."
"Can I ask you a question?" Summer wondered.
"Let's hear it," Dillon sighed.
Summer held a small smirk as she asked it. "Do you have to work really hard at the whole brooding bad-boy thing? Like, seriously, do you get up and practice every morning in front of a mirror?" Dillon didn't reply. "I'm Summer. And from the looks of it, you already know Bailey."
"Dillon," he greeted. "You can call me Dillon."
"Can I ask you another question, Dillon?" Summer hoped.
"Look, I'm telling you people the truth," Dillon interrupted. "I don't know who I am or where I came from…"
"I don't care where you came from," Summer cut him off. Dillon heard a familiar tune playing, and Summer pulled out his pocket watch, which was open. "I want to know where you're going." She closed the watch and placed it on the table. "Nice meeting you, Dillon." She stood and started to head away.
Bailey looked over to her friend. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of here soon enough."
With that, she left.
When they got back to the garage, Summer and Bailey tapped into the prison security footage. Flynn and Scott joined them, watching the screen. The girls voiced their thoughts on testing Dillon to see if he was capable of using the series black gear. "But, I mean, he's a machine, though," Flynn stated as they watched. He didn't believe this for a moment. "Isn't he?"
"Technically," Dr. K spoke up. "He's a human equipped with cybernetic modifications."
"Technically?" Flynn raised an eyebrow. "Now, I'm just a simple mechanic, I'm not a scientist, but I'm looking and seeing metal, I'm seeing bolts, and I'm seeing circuitry, all right? Now, if that is not a machine, then I don't know what is."
"There's more to him than that," Summer insisted.
"He did help me get here safely," Bailey added. "If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead."
Dr. K continued. "Scott, you're team leader. This is your call."
"Look, girls," Scott turned to the two blondes. "I honestly hope that you know what you're doing with this, I really do, because I cannot see anything impressive about this guy at all."
He and Flynn walked away, right before the monitors beeped to show them what was happening in the prison. The clip showed Dillon fighting off a bunch of other prisoners without even breaking a sweat and still holding onto his lunch tray, not every dropping it or its contents. The girls had smirks on their faces that clearly said "I told you so" to the boys beside them. He then proceeded to shove three guys much bigger than him down the spiral staircase that led to the cafeteria.
"Sweet mother molasses," Flynn gaped in shock. Summer paused the tape.
"Impressive enough for you?" she looked at Scott.
The three rangers and Bailey found themselves walking into the prison, were Dillon was in the questioning cell. He was sitting in the chair across from the others as the rangers and Bailey entered. No one sat across from him this time, and Bailey was smirking at him as if he had done something right. "Dillon," she greeted. "This is Scott…"
"Scott Truman," the red ranger cut her off. "Team leader."
"And the occasional egotistical ass," Bailey added, causing the boy to glare at her.
"And this is…"
"Flynn," the blue ranger interrupted Summer. "Just plain Flynn."
Summer continued, pushing an open laptop onto the table. "And there's someone else I'd like you to meet… the man behind all the ranger technology you see."
"Greetings, Dillon," K spoke. "My name is Dr. K."
"Man," Dillon scoffed. "I thought I was weird. You guys beat me by a mile. Dr. K? That's too much. You guys are just…"
"The only chance you have of ever getting out of this place," Scott answered.
"And what do I have to do?" Dillon wondered. "Buy a ticket into your little freak show?"
"Not exactly," Flynn snorted.
Bailey smirked wider. "You have to join them. So, what's it gonna be? You in, or you out?"
"Well," Dillon sighed. "Now that all depends." He looked at the chains he had been put in to keep him from harming anyone else. "Do I get to pick my own color?"
A/N: Well, this is the end of this chapter. Sorry it's not as long as the previous one, and I swear Nina and Fabian will come in soon. I've been trying to plan Bailey's reunion with them. Anyway, what'll happen next? And Bailey will become a ranger, but she isn't one yet.