Power Rangers: A New Beginning
Chapter 11: Revelations
Time was running short, Jason knew this fact well. In a matter of hours the President was going to declare a martial law on Angel Grove until the identities of the Rangers were revealed. Schools had been cancelled through out the county as workers rushed to repair the damage made by the Dragonzord's battle with the Megazord. Jason hated himself for the overwhelming guilt he was feeling, for the rampant destruction of the city, to the massive death toll that was still rising as the cleanup continued. He was also feeling guilty for following his gut and pointing an accusing finger at Tommy, believing he was the Green Ranger. At Jason's command he sent Trini undercover to find out if Tommy was the Green Ranger, only having his plot shattered as the Green Ranger made an appearance across town. Jason and Zack raced over to the docks, but there was neither sign of the Dragonzord nor any sign of the evil Ranger at all.
Who could it be, if not Tommy? Bulk or Skull, maybe but that was highly unlikely, those two morons could find the clap in a whorehouse. Then who? It could be one of Rita's monsters in disguise, but then how would they explain they way the Green Ranger could control the Dragonzord?
He watched the sun rise over the ruined city. He made a silent promise as light began to shine into his eyes; he would unravel this mystery before the day was out.
Kimberly's house…
The sun peeked through the blinds over the window. Billy clenched his eyes closed and rolled over, his forehead connected with an empty glass bottle with a clinking sound. Billy's eyes snapped open as he rubbed his bruised forehead. His head was pounding like a thousand jackhammers. He picked up the bottle and brought it up close to his face, it was n empty bottle of Gin. Billy groaned as he tasted pine trees in the back of his throat. He sat up and looked around and found himself on the floor beside Kimberly's bed, naked from the waist up. What the hell happened last night, he thought, he lay back down on the floor and rubbed his face as the memories flooded back to him. It started out simple enough, he remembered coming over and Kimberly dragging him back to her room, they fooled around for a bit, then it escalated into heavy petting, but Billy stopped, he knew he wanted Kimberly and he could thank the stars above that she was with him, but he wanted to wait, just to be sure. Billy just wasn't completely sure about Kimberly's feeling towards him just yet, it could be that she was highly stressed out and that she was looking for something to fill the void that she was feeling. Billy told her that he would like to wait, Kimberly pulled him closer and kissed his face and agreed, this was probably a good thing as about five seconds after this decision Miryla busted in with bottles of liquor and after much coercing from the two girls, he started to drink with them. He didn't remember much after that, only that at some point he had fallen asleep on the floor. A hand reached down and stroked his face; Billy opened his eyes to see Kimberly hanging off the side of the bed.
"Morning" she smiled down at him
"Morning"
"Why'd you sleep on the floor?" she asked, propping her head on her arm
"I think I fell asleep here and never moved" he said with a smile
"How's your back feeling?"
"Stiff amongst other things. I got to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back" he said as he got to his feet
Kimberly rolled back over and watched him leave
"Hurry" she muttered
Billy opened the door to the bedroom, the house was quiet, Miryla must not have been up yet. He tiptoed down to the bathroom and opened the door, stepping inside he closed it behind him. He stood in front of the toilet for what seemed like an eternity, he flushed and was turning to leave as the bathroom door swung open and smashed against his face. Miryla peeked her head around the door. Her hands moved quickly to her face as she rushed to Billy.
"Oh Billy, I am so sorry. I did not expect you were awake…"Miryla said with her heavy European accent.
"It's fine, really. I should have locked the door" Billy grumbled as he rubbed his forehead
"OOO, you have a nasty bump" Miryla said pulling his down and brushed her lips against the inflamed area "There all better"
"Th…Thanks" Billy said before noticing that Miryla was already dressed "Where are you going? You know that school was cancelled right?"
Miryla cocked her head and gave Billy a funny look
"Oh well I…I guess I'll go out to the mall then"
Billy laughed
"Hang out with Kim too much more and you'll want to like in that place. Might want to go to the one outside of town, it might be open still"
Miryla smiled gently
"I should go, thank you Bill, for everything"
"No problem" Billy said as he walked back to Kimberly's room. Kimberly was at the other side of the bed; she peeked over her shoulder as Billy walked in.
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily
"Nothing, ran into Miryla on the ay back in"
Kimberly yawned and opened her eyes a little wider
"Come back to bed" she whispered, Billy climbed in beside her, Kimberly stretched her arm out and wrapped it around Billy, it wasn't too long before they were both fast asleep.
Trini awoke with a start. She sat forward and found herself lying in the grass outside her house. Her stomach lurched forward as vertigo rushed over her; she closed her eyes as the world spun around her. She looked down and saw a black leather cot covering her middle; she looked over and saw Tommy asleep next to her. Memories flooded her from the night before…
Trini laughed as Tommy finished a joke. They lay back on the grass and looked at the stars.
"I don't think I have ever seen so many stars" Tommy said looking up
"Yeah, luckily we all live in the suburbs so you can still see the sky at night"
"Yeah, they are beautiful"
"You know they say that the starlight we are seeing, right now is from stars that have already burned out, it just takes so long for the light to reach the planet. Trini whispered "I like to believe that it is a map for my life"
Tommy grunted softly
"I'm sorry Trini, I don't understand"
Trini smiled
"You really want to know?" she asked
Tommy shrugged
"Sure"
"Ok, follow me here. I was raised to a priestess in a Shinto shrine…"
"You were going to be a priest?" Tommy asked looking over at her
"If I had stayed in Japan, then yes. Anyway I believe that all life is a circle. We start our life first as minerals, then we move up to plant life, then we become humans and when we die as humans we return to the stars"
"It sounds like the food chain" Tommy said
"You cold look at it like that" Trini said with a shrug "What do you believe?"
Tommy laid still for a moment, his eyes twitching back and forth across the sky, thinking
"I think…I think. OK" Tommy sat up on his shoulder "This is what I believe. We all live the same life over and over, that this world is hell and if we get it right we move on"
Trini looked confused
"What?"
"Ok, think of life as a road. It starts off smooth, gets bumpy sometimes, climbs up mountains and so forth…But the road also has forks in it, different directions to take, all leading to the same place. It's this road we live our lives on, the directions we take will determine what happens next. If we make a wrong turn, when we die we return only to relive our lives again and again, till we figure out where we went wrong."
"Ok…basically you believe in reincarnation, but you believe that instead of becoming something else after you die, you just start over"
"Exactly, it's like a video game, screw up enough and you get killed, all you do is hit the reset button and try again"
Trini stared up at the sky as Tommy's words begin to sink in
"Wow" she whispered "That's pretty deep"
Tommy rolled over and smiled
"And you said pot would make you stupid, it just allows you to set all of your thoughts in a row" Tommy said as he sat up and pulled a baggie and a pack of papers from his pocket.
Trini closed her eyes and let wind wrap around her skin like a lover, soon she was asleep
Now she was wide awake and the sun was blinding her, her father was walking towards her wearing his business suit, on his way into the office
"Trini…what are you doing out here?" he asked
"Sorry dad, we heard there was going to be a meteor shower last night…"
Her father held up his hand
"Let me get this straight, you were outside all night, while there are giant robots and monsters on the loose? Are you stupid, you could have been killed"
Tommy sat up and rubbed his face
"What's going on? "He asked
He looked around, first at Trini, then at Trini's father. He stood slowly
"Uh yeah, I think I am going to go. Catch you later Trini" Tommy said as he slung his leather jacket over his shoulder
Trini watched him drive away
"Is that some of the friends that you keep?" Trini's father said "Should I worry about being a grandfather soon?"
Trini blushed slightly
"Dad, we are just friends…"
Trini's father raised his wrist and looked at his watch
"Now I am late, we will discuss this when I get home Trini" he said as he jumped in his car and backed out of the driveway
Trini sighed
Well she knew one thing; Tommy was not the Green Ranger. He had not left her side the entire night. But the same thought crossed over her mind, much like the one going through her friend's minds…
If not Tommy, then who?
Command Center…
Alpha's memory core was working in overtime; his circuit brain was smoking a little. His mechanical hands flew across a control board as he searched through old files of the Power Rangers. There was so much that Alpha did not know as he was the fifth generation of the Alpha units that Zordon had created. Alpha had only been online for little over a century, after Alpha 4 had a meltdown and completely wiped most of the databank's memory. Alpha sighed, what he did know was that almost every hundred years, a new group of Rangers were used. The last crew had went from 1946 to 1970, but their fate was sealed from Alpha's memory and the central control board, the only thing he could find was that all the files had been moved in to Zordon's personal files under "Z". Alpha shook his head, as he scanned through the power readouts of the Green Ranger throughout history, the Green Ranger is the leader of the other Rangers, hence his unimaginable power, it had been fate that the one coin Rita won was the coin to rule over them all. Suddenly Alpha's memory flashed; maybe there was a way to scan for the Green Ranger
"Zordon?" Alpha called
Zordon's head slid down into his containment tube
"What is it Alpha?" Zordon's voice reverberated through the chamber
"I think I have it, a way to track for the Green Ranger" Alpha said as he pushed a couple of buttons, a small vid-screen materialized over the control boards, it was displaying a flat green line, almost a power EKG. "Ok follow me here; this is the Green Ranger's power, ok. When it is in use we should get a reading showing exactly his location, but Rita is using her magic to conceal him from our scanners"
Zordon nodded
"Continue"
"Ok" Alpha said as he pushed a few buttons, five more lines came on the screen, each corresponding to the Ranger's colors "With the other's we can see where they are at all times, we can also keep an eye on their vitals. I noticed this" Alpha said as he pushed another button, each line began to spike in heart beat rhythm "The coins allow us the have all of the Ranger's vitals to be downloaded to the command center, notice the Green Ranger's"
The Green Ranger's line was registering a heart beat
"So Rita has cloaked the Green Ranger's power spikes but she couldn't cover his vital signs, is that what you are saying Alpha"
Alpha bounced a little into the air
"Exactly, we can't search for the Green Ranger's power, but we can send a search out for his vitals, and track him down that way"
"Good work Alpha, send this data into the Global Power Search and use it with the targeting systems to find him" Zordon said
"Right, search will take about 180 minutes" Alpha said
"Keep me posted" Zordon said as his head slid back up inside of his tube.
Ground Zero…
Millar chewed on the tip of his cigar. He was getting more upset by the moment. He watched as a crew of technicians hooked up a giant generator into a street post.
"Hey, hey" Millar called out "Those idiots earlier tried that, you'll blow out every light from here to Stone Mason, I want water and power up and running before nightfall"
The crew moved their cords over as Millar turned. He shook his head, if the Army Corp of Engineers was here; this wouldn't take as much time as it was. He looked over to see a uniformed soldier walking with Vaughn towards him
The soldier snapped to attention and saluted Millar"
"Sir" the soldier snapped
"At ease Private. Now private why are you escorting Mr. Vaughn, he down not need a private escort out here"
The Private shook his head
"No sir, I have news from the Pentagon"
Millar waived a hand through the air
"Alright then, son. What is it?"
"Thank you sir! The Pentagon would like for you to know that FEMA will be here in under an hour" the private said
"FEMA? Took their damn time, worthless the whole lot of them. That all?" Millar barked
The Private nodded
"Yes sir"
"On your way" Millar said, the private turned and stomped off. Millar turned to see Vaughn picking around in a giant crater
"What brings you out here Vaughn?" Millar asked
"Oh, I wanted to survey the area"
"Well it just so happens that satellite photo's show that, that area you are standing in his a giant footprint"
Vaughn knelt to the ground
"Fascinating…"
"If there is anything else?" Millar barked
"I just wanted to hear your theory on the whole thing" Vaughn mumbled
"What? My theory has not changed, obviously these freaks decided to use this town as a giant battlefield. They must be stopped"
"Don't you see?" Vaughn said as he rose and brushed his hands off "It appeared that one of the giant robots were protecting us"
"That's a load of bullshit Vaughn, it looked like to me, that they were both hell bent on destroying this city"
"Well I would think…" Vaughn started as he was cut off by the roar of a vintage black mustang came rolling in, Vaughn stepped away toward Millar. Millar growled and tossed his cigar to the ground
"Now what the hell is this" Millar said as he crossed over and knocked on the heavily tinted window "This is a destruction site that you assholes are rolling through, get this heap out of here"
The car stopped and cut off its engine, the doors swung open and out stepped two lanky men, dressed all in black. Vaughn's eyes scanned their pale face, he felt a bit frightened as he stepped behind Millar. Millar could already tell he was not going to like them, because he could not see their eyes, as they were hidden behind pairs of dark black sunglasses.
"General Millar?" on of them said
"Yea that's me, mind telling me what the hell are you doing here"
That is not your concern" the second one said with a voice like shattered glass
"The hell its not boy, this is my command so you had better tell me…" Millar began
The men reached into their pockets and pulled out id, and flashed their badges so quick that Vaughn could not even see what department they were from. All the color from Millar's face drained
"Yes sir" Millar stammered "What can I do to help you?"
Vaughn looked surprised; he had never seen the General act this cordial to anyone without rank before
"General, you will take you men and leave the premises within the hour" one of the men said
"And if you Mr. Vaughn, tell anyone about what you have seen, you will never be heard from again" the other one said
Millar grabbed Vaughn's neck and pulled him along as they left
"You won't have to worry about us, sirs. Come on Vaughn"
When they got away from the two men Millar dropped Vaughn and started to walk away grumbling
"Who was that?" Vaughn asked
Millar stopped
"You watch a lot of movies Vaughn?"
Vaughn shook his head
"No sir, not really" Vaughn said breathing heavily
"Well maybe I can put this plainly for you. Those two are MJ-12, so we are off this case"
"What?" Vaughn exclaimed "This has been our case since the beginning"
Millar shook his head
"It all makes sense if you think about it, that tech went missing from NASA and now this"
"What are you babbling about?" Vaughn said
Millar turned and grabbed Millar by the collar
"Those men, the MJ-12 agents, are the men in black, don't you see. Those guys are higher than the head of the CIA and even the president. I had heard rumors of them before but I never believed them. Look, this is now way over our head, I am kinda glad they pulled the plug on us"
Millar brushed the General's hands off of him
"What so we just give up?"
"Son I have a wife and kid, of course I am going to back down" Millar said as he stomped away, Vaughn stood and turned back towards the disaster site as a black helicopter flew over head. He watched as more black suited men jumped from the helicopter and began to set up a barrier. The MJ-12? Something smelled wrong with this whole situation…
Night had slowly fallen over Angel Grove. Miryla was being shoved out of the mall as the curfew time came closer. She sighed and picked up her bags and brushed a hand through her hair. She smiled at the fading light; there was one thing about America she loved, the lights of the cities. Giant buildings that reached towards the skies, the hustle and bustle of people as they rushed too and fro in their daily lives. It was a shame that she was supposed to leave soon, if she had her choice she would stay here forever.
She walked past a small access area, the shadows danced across the walls in the fading light. Miryla stopped and looked closer; she could have sworn that she saw something. She dropped her bags against the wall; suddenly two arms rushed out and pulled her into the darkness.
Miryla screamed, put a hand was pushed down over her mouth to stop her. She struggled to get free but the arms held her tightly. She could hear whispers and an insane hyena like laughter.
"Shut up," a voice whispered harshly
"Sorry" another voice said
"What do we have here?" a voice said
"Looks like that exchange girl from school Bulk" the other voice said
The arms slackened their hold from around Miryla's neck
"God Skull, you are a fucking moron do you know that?" Bulk said pulling a ski mask from over his head
"Sorry Bulk" Skull mumbled pulling his mask over his head
"This is a robbery" Bulk whispered into Miryla's ear "Give us all of your money, and maybe we will only cut you a little bit"
Miryla's eyes widened in fear as Bulk pulled out a switchblade and pushed the release button. Moonlight gleamed off the blade as six inches of steel sprang out near Miryla's eye.
"She looks pretty scared there Bulkie" Skull said
"Of course she does, she's a smart girl. She knows what she is supposed to do" Bulk said as he twisted Miryla around
"But you said we were going to have some fun with her" Skull said as he snatched Miryla's purse away from her and started to dig through it. He pulled a small black object and tossed it over to Bulk "Hey Bulk take a look at this"
Bulk reached with his free hand and caught the object in mid-air
"What is this" he said as he brought it up to his face
Miryla's face darkened as she saw the object in the air. They could have the money, but that, that was important. She bit down on the arm Bulk had around her mouth. Bulk roared in pain as he released Miryla, Miryla rolled out of the way and spat out a bloody mass from her mouth. She rose back to her feet wiping a smear of blood from her mouth.
"You Americans…always have to take thing by force" she growled "If it isn't a girl today, its oil tomorrow or diamonds. You serve your corporate giants as they stomp you all like ants only looking out for themselves" Miryla swung out her foot, kicking Bulk's hand, the object flew out of his hand and landed neatly in Miryla's hands
Bulk stumbled back and slapped Skull on the chest
"That bitch is crazy, what are you doing? Kill her!" Bulk roared
Skull dropped Miryla's purse and pulled his own switchblade out, he lunged at Miryla, the blade gleaming in the moonlight. Miryla sidestepped and kicked the blade out of his hand. She stood ready, ready for anything the two bullies could throw at her.
Command Center…
"Zordon I have done it" Alpha screamed as Zordon's head came into view
"Good work Alpha" Zordon exclaimed "Where is he?"
"It seems that I have a lock on the Green Ranger's location, give me a few minutes and I can have a teleporter lock on him"
"Hurry Alpha, we may not get this chance again" Zordon said as he watched the Green Ranger's pulse quicken
The Mall…
Miryla dodged Skull again, sending him flying over a trash can
"You people make me sick" Miryla said through clenched teeth as she pulled the object up to her chest, pressing on a hidden button, a gleam of gold lit the are up a small bit "You think you have power? I'll show you true power" Miryla said as a slight green glow filled the area. Bulk stood and rushed Miryla, the object flew from her hands and landed on the ground, the green glow still coming from it. Miryla stumbled back as a razor sharp piece of metal came exploding out of her throat. Miryla gasped as she raised her hands to her throat, she could feel warmth flood down her chest. Her eyes locked on to her killer's…
Tommy stood behind her, a knife handle clutched in his hands; his eyes were wide in fear
"I...I didn't mean to" he whispered,
Miryla fell to her knees, still grasping at her throat. A blood bubble appeared around the corners of her mouth, Tommy Knelt down beside her, Bulk and Skull rushed by
"Come on man" Bulk screamed
"Call an ambulance" Tommy roared
"Too late man, that bitch got what she deserved" Bulk said as he ran around the corner and across the mall parking lot. Tommy's stomach lurched, her felt like he was going to vomit as all light left Miryla's eyes/
Suddenly Miryla's morpher started to pulsate green, Tommy leaned over and picked it up and looked it over. What is this, kryptonite?
Command Center
"I've got a lock on the Green Ranger, Zordon" Alpha called out
"Punch it" Zordon boomed
Suddenly a green light flashed down, engulfing Tommy and Miryla. Tommy felt a tingle run through his body as he teleported away, still clutching Miryla's fallen body.
The night became still, there was no traces of anybody in the area. A sudden gust of wind came along and knocked one of Miryla's bags into a spattering of her blood. A dog cried out in the distance, but became silent again.
The Command Center
Alpha pushed a button, a force field became active around Tommy, Tommy looked up his eyes watery, he raised his hands and saw that they were covered in blood.
"I didn't mean to" he whispered
Zordon lowered his head a he thought.
"Alpha, take him below and dispose of the body"
"But Zordon" Alpha began
"No, do as I say, and allow me to think" Zordon said
Alpha nodded and did as he was told, a light shot up as Tommy, Miryla and Alpha were lowered below. Zordon sighed, he had the coin back, but now it seems that things had gotten to be more difficult. He smiled softly, he had a plan, and Tommy, would never remember any of this night, ever again. Zordon's eyes lit up softly.
Sorry about taking so long, got Guitar Heroes for my birthday
Next Up: Road Trip: Part One
Till Then
I remain
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