Cat: Hey all! Now the real story begins—and it's way different from the first chapter so I understand if it's not what you were expecting. Still, enjoy! Oh yeah, btw, this takes place in the year 2018.
Disclaimer: in voice of the seagulls from Finding Nemo Not mine-mine-mine.
Rachel Coleen Scotts wondered futilely why she was always so stubborn. Any sane person would have said "no" when offered the mission. Any sane person would have asked for back up, or at least, for a bigger gun. Unfortunately, Rachel was beginning to doubt her sanity. The mission had been assigned to her and only her. And she'd stood there and thought, the bastard is trying to kill me. The second thing she'd thought was, He wants me to say 'no.' Or to quit. Well, I'll go just to spite him. And then he'll have to make me a Ranger. There was just one thing she'd forgotten about when planning out her grand victory, the mission was tough. "Retrieve the mutant Glutto." That was what he'd instructed her to do. It wasn't impossible by any means. It was just exceptionally difficult, especially alone and without Ranger status.
It was all her mother's fault, Rachel decided. Commander Alexander didn't like her very much, and that was common knowledge. It was also common knowledge why. Getting pregnant on a mission wasn't exactly condoned by Time Force. In fact, she'd have been fired in a second if it weren't for two things. The first was her amazing skill as an officer. The second was that her equally talented team would have all quit without her as their leader. So, unable to take out his frustration on her mom, the commander was constantly making Rachel's life miserable—and he wasn't very subtle about it.
Still, first things first. Get the civilians to safety. Rachel squinted, protecting deep brown eyes from the sun, as she took in the size of the building before her. "Massive" did not quite describe the immense mass of marble. And that was exactly how she knew she was in the right place. She took the wide steps in front of the building easily and grabbed the cold bronze handle hastily. She spared a glance at her watch as she ripped the spotless glass door open, leaving a series of fingerprints that stood out sharply—and oddly pleasingly. Cursing loudly at the time she ignored the stares from around her. She was running late.
She grumbled mentally as she stormed in and threw herself before the imposing marble reception desk. "I need to speak to Mr. Collins." She informed the secretary briskly.
"Is Mr. Collins expecting you?" She replied in the traditionally perky voice of a receptionist. Rachel responded with the irritated air of someone whose precious time was being pointlessly wasted.
"No."
"When would you like to make an appointment?" If the receptionist caught her tone, she wasn't phased by it.
"Right now."
"He's in a meeting at the moment. I'm sorry." She did not sound very sorry.
Rachel glared and slipped into a commanding tone that she knew from experience worked very well on people who were not quite as willful as her. "Listen to me. I'm trying to save lives here, and I refuse to cut through red tape. So either you get me Mr. Collins or you get me the next best or I am going to go and find him myself, am I clear?" As expected, the secretary started and reached obediently for her phone. She dialed, but passed Rachel the phone without even greeting the person on the other end.
"This is Eric Meyers," He intoned. Despite herself Rachel wasted a breath on disbelief. Here was a man who she'd heard about her entire life, and he was on the phone with her. He was a legend, a shining, brilliant, example of Time Force greatness. She recovered quickly however.
"I need you to evacuate 1912 Silar Street. Everyone except for the top floor. Also the surrounding buildings."
"Why? Who is this?"
"We don't have time. You need to get those people out now." And she hung up. For being only 17, Rachel was very good at getting people to do what she needed them to do. Possibly because of innate leadership abilities. Probably because she'd spent her entire life getting harassed and sometime along the line she had learned how to deal with people. And she knew that if she wanted something done fast, the less explanation the better. She passed Mrs. Secretary the phone and didn't even stop to process the look on her face. Instead she turned right back around and bolted out the door.
Her motorcycle was waiting out back. Standard issue black and white with only average speed, Rachel wouldn't trade it for anything. It was the most reliable piece of equipment that she had, and reliability was one of the main issues with technology. For example, her mother's spanking new computer had crashed recently after the tiniest little power surge. She'd lost everything and was going to have to spend the next month trying to recreate it all. Nope, Rachel'd stick with what she had. Not to mention that her uncle, Trip, had shown her how to make a few minor changes to the steering column. The results were low powered lasers attached to the handle bars and handling that made Uncle Lucas whistle with appreciation. She jumped on and drove.
1912 Silar Street soared above her within minutes. It wasn't the most impressive building in the city, a mere five stories, but it was the tallest building on the block. The bike skidded sideways as she stopped it. It ended up just inches from the front door.
"Perfection." She complimented herself on the stop as she dashed through the heavy metal door.
Silver Guardians were everywhere, ushering disgruntled business men of all ages though every available exit. With so much chaos it was a miracle that anyone at all noticed the small slip of a girl threading her way along the edges of the room towards the elevators. The Guardian was doing exactly what she'd told him to—clearing the building--when he shouted across the room, "Hey! You there!"
"I'll check the upper levels!" She lied; slightly peeved that someone had bothered to stop her. There was only one reason that the Silver Guardian let what would seem to be a civilian go, though Rachel didn't wait to think about it at the time. He had recognized the sleek uniform and distinctive emblem Time Force officers. If she had known, Rachel might have paused because in the year 2018 there was only one man who could possibly have known that she was from Time Force from such a distance. And that man was her father.
But Rachel did not realize this and so she jammed her hand against the elevator button and, to her delight, it opened immediately. "Fate." She declare it as she jumped in and banged the plastic five. The machine moved far to slowly for her liking, however she was smart enough to know that using the abandoned machine was going to be much quicker then fighting her way through the endless evacuees and questioning Guardians who were fleeing down the stairs.
This knowledge did not calm her nerves or stop her impatient pacing.
"Calm down." She ordered herself aloud. "It's Glutto. You show the badge, you rumble, you arrest." She had purposefully skimmed over the fight. "You can do it. You've been training your whole life. And he's just a fat blue blob. It's not going to be a problem." She took a deep breath and squared herself to the elevator doors. "Yeah. It's not going to be a problem." She drew out her blaster as the elevator dinged cheerfully.
"Glutto!" She shouted, startling the mutant so badly that he visibly jumped. He wheeled around as Rachel quickly took in her surroundings. The fifth floor was one large room, surrounded by thick glass windows. In the center of the room was a large rectangular machine. It was obviously an explosive, but of what caliber Rachel had no idea. Flashing red numbers told her that the countdown would last for five short seconds as soon as activated. But Rachel wasn't too concerned with that. She didn't intend for it to be a problem.
Behind the detonator were about a dozen cyclobots. She hadn't been informed that there were going to be any, but their presence didn't surprise her. Of course Glutto would have known where Ransik kept his stash. Besides, bad guys always had cannon fodder. There was however, one thing that both surprised and frightened her.
To the right of the machine, bent low over a series of panels, was an enemy that Rachel had been told of from birth. Having frequently heard bedtime stories about his attack on the year 2001, she was well aware of the danger posed by the thing. Frax was back. Back, and clearly upgraded. Most of his gold plating (she'd seen pictures often) had been replaced with steel, making him harder then ever to damage. Her eyes didn't linger there though. She was more concerned with the laser. His entire left arm had been removed and replaced with a giant cannon.
Rachel was not stupid enough to let herself be distracted, or to stare. She also was not stupid enough to not register that Frax was dangerous, far more dangerous in fact then Glutto. She was forced to acknowledge that she needed a plan, and she needed it quickly. But she wasn't stupid enough to let Glutto know that. He had enough power without adding her fear to his long list of potential weapons.
"Time Force!" She announced, flashing her badge. "You're under arrest."
"Just one?" Glutto laughed.
"Just one is all it takes." Rachel replied. It felt good to say the amazingly witty banter that resounded in her head whenever someone wrote her off or insulted her. As an officer, back talking to fellow officers was not the way to get ahead. Back talking to superiors was the easiest way to get fired. However, back talking to villains was the best perk ever.
"Cyclobots!" Glutto called in the worthless machines. Rachel actually smiled. She fought a dozen cyclobots before breakfast. Without a laser blaster. And no one made her. She did it because she was held to higher standards, and she knew it. She needed to be better, and she knew it. And if she wanted to advance, she needed to make it clear that if she was not promoted her commanding officer was flat out wrong. And that meant being not only the best, but the obvious best. And that meant practicing. A lot. And it was all about to pay off.
She picked off three with a quick succession of perfectly aimed shots. She took out the rest in two and a half minutes. Not an all time record, but not too shabby, she thought. And she backed up to face the criminals. Her heart rate was up healthily, but her breathing was as casual as though she'd just walked across a room.
"Whose next? The ugly robot or the uglier mutant?" She challenged.
"Frax! Get her!" Glutto ignored the insult and continued to order around the troops. The robot stepped forward and raised his arm. He fired ten shots, machine gun style. Rachel fell into a practiced roll, artfully sliding out of the way of each one. Several windows shattered dramatically behind her. The girl grabbed her blaster and fired back, but the weapon didn't even make a dent in Frax's armor.
She cussed and examined the machine anew. He had to have a weak point. Not immediately noticing anything except for his rapid approach, Rachel dove between the robot's feet, falling back on hand to hand combat. She grabbed Frax around the neck and clasped both her elbows to steady herself as the robot thrashed about. She wished momentarily that her cousin-slash-best friend Nicole was there.
A year her junior and a rank above her, Nicole had made Green Ranger status for her supportive nature and easy laugh. Even without the awesome power of the Green Ranger, Nicole's super strength and carefree smile would have made Rachel's day a lot brighter. The girl had even offered to sneak along, but then Rachel's stubborn streak had kicked in and she'd said no. She was going to do it by the book like always. Really, her hard head was going to get her into trouble some day.
That day was possibly today as the robot finally managed to free himself of her. Rachel was sent sliding across the title floor and into the wall. The back of her head collided with the whitewashed wall, producing a sharp sting that Rachel had no choice but to ignore.
"Ha ha! Take that!" Glutto jeered, as though he'd been the one to injure her. Rachel glared and got to her feet, ignoring the soreness from the impact. The mutant must have caught sight of the determined look on her face because suddenly he fell into a look of moderate concern—fright almost. "Uh oh. Come on Frax. Let's go!" He ordered. Rachel rushed forward, knowing exactly what the mutant was about to do before his speedy retreat. Glutto pounded his blue fist once, irrevocably, on the explosive machine that Frax had been working on. The countdown clicked into bright life.
"No!" Rachel cursed for the third time that morning as both mutant and robot disappeared. The officer finished her mad dash forwards with four seconds left on the clock. She quickly scanned the machine for a clear 'off' button. With three seconds left she gave up and wondered if shooting it would stop the machine or cause it to detonate sooner. Deciding it was the latter she began searching for a way, any way, to turn off the machine. She had two seconds. With only one second left she found a cord. It snaked across the floor and plugged into the white plaster wall a few feet away. Leaping over the machine, Rachel grabbed the chord while still partially in the air. And as that last second wound down, she yanked on the cord.
The plug did not come free.
A deafening explosion rocked the entire building.
Cat: Review pleeeeeeeeaaassseeeeee!!!!!
