Chapter 17: Momentary Reprieve

"I thought you said the attacks wouldn't come every day?"

Gaby shook her head as the young man in front of her ranted and raved against the unique set of circumstances they had been thrown into. Bloodless Mary had revealed herself and, if she wanted to be honest, looked exceedingly similar to the first person she had made contact with after the planning. However, her rational mind had shot that theory down as it wouldn't make any sense for their perceived enemy to be contacting her. Why, that would also mean she knew about the TYRANT System which was negligible. Shifting in her chair, she allowed Weihan to calm down slightly before steepling her fingers and placing them in front of her mouth. Silently, she mulled over how much information to release and what he could give her in return.

Ever since hearing her brother's voice, she had reached out to contact her parents and family So far, only her father had responded from Madrid and he had hinted that there was something deeper than what she could see. Whatever that was, she had no idea but if the young man in front of her was in any way acquainted with Danny, she had an obligation to know as much of his life as possible. However, the more pressing matter was what Bin and the others had dredged up on their search to learn more about the Wraiths as possible.

"I was caught off guard as much as you but there was a brief reprieve in their attack schedule. What worries me more is the amount of information we are managing to dig up about the Wraiths and their influences on modern folklore."

Weihan nodded and tried his hardest to calm down. Honestly, he was intrigued about the ways Wraiths had influenced culture other than whatever Gaby had told him a few weeks ago. Wraiths had been popping up as stories told in various cultures ever since civilisation had begun. Goat men, yetis and giant lizards were all part and parcel of any culture but if the Wraiths were the actual creatures, that brought into question why they would choose now, of all times, to break out. He would have to visit the Ultra Cavern and review his battle with the Wolf Wraith to recall all of the finer details in the moments leading up to the attack. He would also have to look through his internal recordings of the way he had guarded against the Wraiths but he guessed the other residents of the apartment complex wouldn't take too kindly to spell residue on the walls.

He was also reeling from the amount of destructive potential the Rider System seemed to have. His final attack against the Spider Wraith had only meant to defang it and push it away from the nearby businesses with the series of kicks he was beginning to mentally call his Raptor Blitz. The channelling of the fire had been needed to cut through the mirrors and he hadn't really noticed any difference in the strength of his swing. What actually happened was the complete melting of the fangs the moment the Blade passed through them, warping and deforming the vertical mouth of the creature and an image of a new weapon flashing up on his HUD for the briefest of moments. He could have sworn it was the sai on his Ninjetti uniform but he had no idea why they would be popping up as part of his Rider arsenal. On the other hand, the kicks had done their job at pushing the monster away from the main area of George Street and into one of the side alleys…where it had promptly dissolved into sand. Apparently taking his silence as a motion to continue, Gaby pressed on.

"The first Wraith you encountered, the Taurus, was the basis for the Minotaur in Ancient Greece. Barely preserved texts from that time explained how people looked into the 'looking glass' to see creatures of 'indescribable beauty and incredible diversity' on the other side. The Bird Wraith was the inspiration for the legends of the Banshee with its highly destructive wail. The Horse was an inspiration for Centaurs and even the spider you just battled was the source for giant spider stories. The point is, we might be able to see what is coming down the line if we look into myths and legends throughout history."

Weihan nodded to himself. That made some degree of sense, though he was still waiting on more information to come back from the High Council on Eltare regarding the Wraiths and the full situation with his Powers. From his morph in San Angeles, he knew that his Crystal had reformed once more but it was still in its original lightning bolt shape and hadn't changed to be more…inconspicuous. The Zordon Archives would have more information than what Gaby and the others could dig up but the problem was what he would do with the information in his possession. He certainly couldn't call the others after around five or so years of no contact and ask for their help against the species of monster that had attacked him early in his 'career'. They were unpowered and would be easy pickings for the Wraiths – even if they could call on their 'unmorphed' weapons to some extent.

No, the only path that was available for him to take was the long and lonely road of the Rider. Shaking that slightly melancholy and cheesy thought out of his mind, he brought his mind back to the present situation…even though being in rather close quarters with his boss when she was wearing what amounted to tissue paper was a tad distracting. The other problem he could think of was what would happen if there was an attack in Sydney and one overseas. He couldn't reasonably be expected to be in two places at once and even with the teleportation system in place, it would take time for the first battle to end…unless Gaby wanted him to continuously be teleporting from one battle to another. Shaking his head again, he opened his mouth to speak – wholly unaware that he had stood up and had started to pace.

"Right…and what happens if we come across a Wraith that doesn't conform to the 'norm'? What I said earlier about not conforming to a schedule for upgrades holds true for the Wraiths as well. For all we know, there could be more than one Wraith coming out of the mirrors at the same time; I know that you don't think that's possible but we need to be prepared for any sudden changes in their attacks. Now that Bloodless Mary has revealed herself to us that may very well be a sign that things are going to start ramping up.

We also need to do something about the PR issue; both the public relations with overseas companies and the general public and the Power Rangers. There isn't an active team right now as the Jungle Fury Rangers have defeated their evil but there are still plenty of public identity Rangers who could accidentally wander into a battle site. As the Overdrive Rangers just showed, they would be defeated within moments. I think a press conference is the best course of action to take now as it would smooth over a lot of ruffled feathers in the community as well as garnering more support and respect for Australasia Worldwide."

He stopped and blinked in shock as he was somehow on his feet. Resisting the urge to slap his forehead in disgust, he opted for adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Despite the constant urgings of his mother to drop the fake glasses, he had decided not to take that route as most of the photographs in his official documents showed him wearing glasses. His brain started working on overtime as he thought of a good way to get AJ into the company to both keep an eye on her and for her to work her magic to pry apart the innermost workings of the company. The only hurdle was getting Gaby's approval for her to start, though he seriously doubted it would be much of an issue if he mentioned it now.

"I have a friend coming in from overseas who is an expert in public relations issues and has had a lot of experience in these sorts of situations. She could spin the negativity into positives for the company which could lead to lessened surveillance from undesirable parties. The only caveat is that she is only coming over in about a week or so but I can, ah, call her up and ask for her thoughts regarding the press conference. Now that there are no more aliens orbiting the planet, I think it'll be safe to hold a conference without it being attacked."

Gaby nodded slowly, the gears turning inside her mind. There was a very slim possibility that the woman he mentioned was the same Jacqui Apple he had shacked up with in San Angeles but that would be too much of a coincidence. Mentally sighing, she nodded once and tapped a few keys on her computer to bring up the new employee contract and attached tax file declaration form. Even though whoever it was would be a friend of Weihan's, she needed to do everything by the numbers or the sex-starved executives wouldn't be the only things on her ass. Attaching the file to a blank email, she sent it to his work email with a small line reminding him of what he had just said. She doubted he would forget but, on the other hand, there had been other important things in the past he had forgotten due to laziness on his part. Although, just because he was now their main Rider didn't mean that he would be exempt from doing his regular work.

She wondered exactly what sort of information he knew about their attack patterns and questioned if he was beginning to draw parallels to the attacks of the various evil forces over the past years. She still remembered the massive attacks on the CBD that had come during the campaign of the Ultra Rangers; especially the massive evil Zords that had thundered downtown and the terrifying final assault on the city by Xonix. Thinking about the massive damage the Ultra Rangers had caused made her think about two things that, in hindsight, had seemed rather off. The first thing was the new employee orientation meeting hadn't been the first time she had met Weihan, even if she hadn't known it at the time. She had seen him as a young boy on a bus, engrossed in some sort of clunky wrist device. Throughout the entire day, she hadn't been able to get him out of her mind and it had only been pushed to the farthest corners of her mind due to the appearance of the Orange Ranger.

The second thing was his apparent easy and familiarity around the Rangers, laughing and joking around with them even though they had just met. From the report Serena had written up, she was intrigued about how many of the younger Rangers came so easily to him for assistance and help in certain things, things that were spoken in low tones with nervous glances in the direction of the RAT. There was something she was missing and she didn't like dealing with unknown variables. Shaking her head once more, she opened her mouth to speak when the ringing of her phone caught her attention. Extremely curious to know who knew she would be at work apart from her benefactor and a few other parties, she managed a weak smile before pressing the button for the speakerphone…and immediately wishing she hadn't.

"Director, we have a situation in Canterlotia. I don't think it's related but there are reports of a bright rainbow of light coming up from outside the High School. There were also reports of a red winged monster but…everything's really jumbled about. It'll be a few more days until the full report is released though, so I was thinking that you could –"

Gaby terminated the call with a button, inwardly seething about the inherent idiocy in the people the company had employed overseas. The damned fool probably had too much to drink or had ingested some sort of experimental drug near the school and had made something up on the spot in time for his weekly call-in. Biting back a groan of frustration, she looked to her Rider to see what he would make of the blabbering fool. Surprisingly, he seemed to be deep in thought over something and was mouthing the name of the city to himself; almost as if he was trying to figure out the closest word or name. Honestly, she didn't care what he did in his spare time unless it impacted on his work or his duties as the protector of the Earth.

"Apologies about that, he must have had too much to drink. Now, your idea about a press conference seems to hold some degree of merit. How soon could you be ready to answer questions about the System?"

Weihan's head snapped up at her words, his thoughts over Canterlotia being pushed to the back of his mind. There was something about that name and what the supposedly drunk person had said that struck a chord within him but he seriously doubted anything concrete would come from it. After all, he had absolutely no concrete evidence that Canterlotia was in any way related to Canterlot as he would have thought the fable of Camelot would be a better counterpart…and he was getting off track once more.

Mulling over Gaby's words, he wondered exactly what would happen during the press conference and if it would be attacked once again. On the other hand, if he was attacked, he could easily pull out the turbine and transform to protect the civilians. There would be no need to show up on the steps of Town Hall fully morphed or have to stare down an unruly Prime Minister to force him to retract an earlier claim. Of course, he understood now why such a claim had been needed but he still thought it was a dick move to pull…no pun intended.

"I'll be ready in three days."

TBC…