Variations Of SPD
Chapter 24: Rescue Mission Pt. 2
By: Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: October 13, 2006
Summary: Bridge and Z return with important information and find that Sydney, Jack and Brian have taken off in their absence, bound and determined to get Sky back and Sydney and Anna have a face to face confrontation that leaves only one still standing.
Ships: If you've been reading the whole story, you should know these by now –winks--
Disclaimer: Don't own em, not making money off this story – this is purely stress relief for me! Besides, if you know me, you know things would be different if they belonged to me.
AN: I have something important to say. If you can't write your own stories and do your own graphics, don't sink down and steal other people's hard work and claim it as your own. I just had to deal with some group on yahoo and someone stealing not only one of my chapters to Ranger Games: A Dino Thunder Reunion but their group also took the work from several other people, including JTrevizo's graphic for her Always A Ranger series. So, just, don't take people's work. It's wrong.
"The thing about fate is that it loves to mess up your plans. it comes at you full force when you least expect with something you didn't want at all. Yet somehow, you feel obligated to listen to fate's whispering in your ear." -- Angel --
"Life isn't meant to be all sunshine and roses. It isn't meant to go the way you want it. There are some things that you just can't change, and life, along with the way that things happen, can't be changed." -- Angel --
--
Bridge and Z found themselves standing in the middle of a very busy Command Center. A Squad, or what was left of it, was being briefed by Cruger while Boom and Kat monitored what looked like Brian and Jack's energy signatures. "Welcome back," Anubis told them. "A Squad, GO!"
The five younger Rangers raced out of the room and Anubis turned to his Green and Yellow Rangers. "Commander?" Z started, popping her helmet off and staring at him in confusion.
"You two are my senior most members of A Squad now, I need to know I can count on you."
"Sir?" Bridge asked, following Z's lead and popping his own helmet off.
"Sydney let herself be taken and both Brian and Jack have resigned from SPD. They didn't agree with my order that no one was to rescue Sky," Anubis informed them, sitting in the chair behind his Command Center desk. The looks on Bridge and Z's faces said it all. Anubis could not fault them for the decision he saw them quickly come to. "I'm giving you these options – you can stay on, or you can join your teammates.
The two demorphed and stared at each other. Z spoke up first, clearing her throat and staring right into Anubis' eyes. "With all due respect, Commander, I'm going to help get Syd and Sky back, and no one is going to stand in my way." So saying, Z handed him her badge and ID. When Cruger took the two items, Z strode from the room.
"Bridge?"
The Green Ranger shook his head but didn't utter a word as he handed the same to items to Cruger and rushed out of the room after Z. "Sir?"
"Kat, put these with the others."
Dr. Manx took the four objects and watched Cruger exit the Command Center. "Did that just happen?" Boom asked, looking distraught.
"I'm afraid so," Kat told him, shaking her head at the situation. "Just what we didn't need. Instead of mission one, now we're down six."
"Commander Cruger seemed to almost be proud of them for doing it," Boom pointed out as he stared at her.
At that, Kat smiled. "I think they've all finally learned there's more to life than SPD, and he is proud of them, for learning that lesson. They aren't going to be at SPD forever, Boom."
--
"No one's home," Z breathlessly told Bridge when she came rushing into his room.
"I know. They left us clues," he spoke, holding up a stack of papers from his desk. On top was a note from Jack and Brian. Underneath was all the information Sydney had pulled from the Base's computers. There was also several pages that detailed the meeting between Cruger and A Squad over leaving Sky.
"Damn!" Z hissed.
"Apparently, according to the Kat's notes, Cruger knew the Senior A Squad would disobey orders and go after Sky. It's almost like he was counting on it," Bridge summarized the notes for her.
"But why?"
"Because we were sulking so bad those first few days. He wanted to snap us out of our funk and into action."
Z shook her head, trying to make sense of the notes Kat had written. "Now we're screwed. We don't know where Jack and Brian are, and all we have are coordinates for where Sky, and now Syd, should be."
Bridge closed his eyes and extended himself over his link to Jack. When he got a response, he smiled. "They're on their way here."
"Good. Let's get started planning. I think it's time we pulled a favor in with Piggy, I've got an idea," Z told him, smiling.
--
The image would forever be burned into Sydney's memory. In the years to come, she'd remember the image and wake up crying. For now, all she could do was try to shake off the disbelief. Her eyes moved to Sky's form, as he struggled to break free and Anna strode around the room, lighting candles and making sure all the doors were locked.
Sydney refused to panic, even though her heart was in her throat. Anna hadn't mentioned she was going to sexually assault Sky while Syd was chained up and watching, and it was doing all sorts of things to Sydney. "You've sunk to a new low," Syd uttered, drawing Anna's attention away from her goal – Sky.
"I'm not the one who betrayed Sky by having sex with Jack."
"And just where did he get that idea?" Syd kept prodding. She could feel Sky struggling to put up a shield around himself, but it wasn't working for some reason, so Syd kept stalling to give him time.
"No use trying that, Lover," Anna spoke to Sky. "Your chains block out your civilian powers." Sydney struggled with hers, wondering if the same would happen if she tried her civilian powers. "Don't bother struggling, Sydney. Your chains do the same thing. Did you honestly think I wouldn't prevent you from using your genetic powers?"
Both the Pink and Blue Rangers struggled more. "Sky!" Syd cried out as Anna crawled onto the bed with him. The Blue Ranger was only dressed in boxers, leaving him vulnerable to whatever Anna had planned.
"I promise, Lover, you'll enjoy this as much as I'm planning to," Anna whispered in his ear even as she reached for the waistband of his boxers.
"NO!" Syd cried and struggled. "SKY!"
--
"We're wasting time," Z argued with Jack.
"Chill out. We're doing everything we can. We're lucky Piggy was able to help us," Jack told her. "Especially after you threatened to kill him."
Bridge was about to break up the argument when all four of them hit their knees and held their heads, a loud screeching cry echoing in their ears.
"SYDNEY!"
--
Anna was grinning as she eased Sky's boxers down. Her eyes lit with lust when she found him rock hard and squirming. 'So like a man. Just wants to dip his stick in a willing well' she thought sinisterly.
Sydney continued to struggle against her chains, her eyes closed so she wouldn't be scarred for life by the sight of Anna forcing Sky to have sex with her. 'This can't be happening!' Syd struggled against her bonds and felt her stomach starting to rebel at the thoughts running through her head.
"NO!" Sky's strangled voice finally broke through. Syd opened her eyes to see Anna straddling Sky's body.
"Calm down, Lover, this won't hurt a bit," Anna teased, leaning her chest against his.
"GET OFF!" Sky demanded, twisting his body back and forth, hoping to dislodge her.
Sydney didn't say a word, she merely dug down to where her powers rested and let them erupt along with her anger. "POWER OF THE PHOENIX!" Anna was blown across the room, while the chains holding Syd and Sky dissolved. "May be immune to our civilian powers, but not Ninja powers," Syd hissed through clenched teeth as her eyes met Anna's.
--
"How much longer?" Brian asked.
"Give me two minutes to cloak the ship!" Bridge grinned at the younger boy.
"I don't see why we couldn't teleport."
Bridge looked over at Brian and rolled his eyes. Z had said the same thing numerous times in the last couple of days. "Because without more practice, its unreliable at best."
The White Ranger huffed but understood Bridge's reasoning. "Sorry, worried."
"We all are," Z spoke up, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go strap in. Jack's ready."
"I'm almost done, tell him to lift off," Bridge told them. Brian followed Z and the two buckled up in their seats. Just as Jack lifted off, Bridge came to bucking in.
"Bridge?"
"We're set. Let's go."
"HANG ON!" Jack ordered before blasting off.
--
"Kat?"
"They've gone. I just got confirmation on the shuttle launch from Piggy."
"Good. Put the Rangers on alert, we'll give them all the cover fire on their way back that we can."
--
Anna was shocked to see Sydney free and surrounded by a halo of pink flames. "How the hell…?" Anna growled. Sky was just standing from the bed and pulling up his boxers.
"Are you alright?" Syd carefully questioned Sky while her eyes remained on Anna just in case the brunette thought of doing something stupid.
"Syd?" his voice cracked. "Oh God, Sydney?"
At the sounds he was making, Sydney turned to look at him and found him staring at his hands before he looked up at her, tears welling in his eyes. "Hi," she grinned at him.
"God Almighty, what have I do?"
"It wasn't all your fault," she told him. "You had pressure from an outside source." With that, Sydney turned her attention back to Anna. "Gee, who's in control now, hot shot?"
"You'll die for interfering with destiny!" Anna shrieked.
"You're pathetic," Syd told her. "And guess what, I'm not going to kill you, as much as I'd really like to right now, because as a Ranger, I was trained better than that. You can spend the rest of your life in a containment card." Syd pulled out her ID, which was also hooked to her communicator and the containment device.
"I THINK NOT!"
Syd felt Sky's body hit her, tackling her to the ground right before Anna's powers sailed over their heads and right into a wall, leaving the wall smoking. "You ok?" Sky gasped, pushing himself up and off her.
The blonde haired Pink Ranger nodded. "I'm so over her ass," Syd hissed. "Are you ok?"
"My head is killing me," Sky told her, then gave her a bland look when he saw the grin on her face. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Sydney. I didn't mean THAT head."
Her first real smile in nearly two weeks burst onto her face. "I can take care of that, but you're going to have to wait until we get home and I give you a bath."
"You're the only one I want taking care of that."
Unbeknownst to the two Anna was listening to their conversation and growing angrier by the moment. "I'll kill you both!" Anna roared.
Sky turned in time to toss up a shield to protect them. "Ok, she's really pissing me off now."
Syd giggled and grinned at him. It was so nice to heave her best friend and boyfriend back. Leaning over, she pecked a kiss to his cheek. Sky looked at her, startled that she'd do that after everything they'd been through. "I love you. Let's kick her ass and then go home."
Sky chuckled. "Ready when you are."
"DROP IT!" Syd commanded. Sky let the shield go with one hand while the other joined Syd in launching a stream of fire at Anna.
The brunette let out an inhuman sound as the Pink and Blue Rangers' combined attack knocked her through the wall into the hallway beyond. "Well, damn," Sky muttered when the pair walked toward the smoking hole.
"She's gone," Syd pointed out, sticking her head out the hole. "We seriously need to get out of here. I'd hate to have her come after us again and we have no backup."
"You think she could take both of us?" Sky asked, looking at his girlfriend.
"I don't want to find out who she's bringing with her. Viper drained me pretty good earlier. You know he's going to use that energy for something," Syd told him as the pair made their way through the hole and down the hallway.
Sky looked thoughtful. "Syd, how the hell are we going to get out of here? I don't have my morpher on me."
Sydney whirled around to face him. "Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Shaking her head, Syd stopped and looked at him. "Try summoning it to you."
The Blue Ranger did as asked, holding out his hand and thought of his morpher appearing in his hand. He gasped lightly in surprise when the item appeared out of thin air, fully intact with his Crystal in the front. "Honey, how'd you know to do that?"
"Don't ask, cause I don't know."
Sky didn't get the chance to shoot back a comeback because suddenly the alarms were going off and an announcement began ringing over the loud speakers. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
"Here comes the cavalry!" Sky grinned. He was both scared and relieved to know their teammates had arrived. He had so much to apologize for, especially to Jack and Syd.
"Better morph, I don't think fighting in your boxers is such a great option," Syd teased him, happy to see him almost back to normal, even if she knew there were issues they'd have to deal with when they got home.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"SPD EMERGENCY!"
--
"Stay together!" Jack commanded as the group of four entered the large ship floating above Earth. "Bridge, you're job is to track Syd and Sky. We get them, and get out! I don't want to deal with these assholes on their own turf!"
The other three nodded. "How come Bridge and I didn't get nifty weapons?" Z complained, looking at Jack's ninja stars and Brian's sais.
Jack shot her a look. "Ask your animal spirit, we got ours the day after you left."
Bridge shook his head and rolled his eyes at his girlfriend. "Not now, Z, " Bridge muttered to her.
"I don't have a weapon, and I'm not sure my energy attack would work in here," Z argued.
"Then allow us to help," a familiar voice announced. The Rangers gasped in surprise as two glowing figures appeared before them. One was a yellow tiger and the other was a green panda; Bridge and Z's animal spirits.
"What a heck of a time for you two to show up," Z teased, crouching down and wrapping her arms around Tiger's neck.
"I am happy to see you as well, Little One. Perhaps Panda and I could provide you with some assistance."
Bridge and Z smiled under their helmets when their weapons appeared in their gloved hands. "For you, Bridge, the Green Panda Quake Paws," Panda spoke. Two glove like objects appeared in Bridge's hands. The gloves were tipped with razor sharp claws.
"And for you my loyal young one, the Yellow Tiger's Roar Sonic Blaster," Tiger grinned, watching Z gaze at the laser blaster in her hands.
"Thank you," the two Rangers responded.
"Good luck," the animal spirits told them before disappearing.
Brian and Jack chuckled before Jack's voice broke through the silence. "We've got to find Syd and Sky." The other three nodded once in agreement before the four of them raced down the hallway.
--
Syd and Sky found themselves back to back fighting a group of Tengas and Anna's so-called bodyguard a few minutes after they'd morphed. The Pink Ranger was fighting in close hand to hand combat with the walking reject from a punk rock concert while keeping an eye on Sky, who was taking on the Tengas. Syd noticed his movements were sluggish. 'Must be the effects of what happened earlier' she reasoned. She didn't have long to ponder that when all hell began to break lose around her. First a large explosion rocked the ship, followed by four costumed figures entering through a large hole in one of the walls to her left and then Anna suddenly appeared with Viper beside her, and Syd had to admit that the brunette looked utterly pissed off.
"You have perfect timing!" Syd called to Jack who nodded his head at her in agreement. "Jack, a little help here!" Syd called when the chains and leather lover got a hold of her and was beginning to squeeze the air out of her chest.
The Red Ranger rushed forward and kicked the guard in the back, causing him to stumble forward and let Sydney go in the process. With the guards attention averted to Jack, Syd fell to her knees in hopes of getting her breath back before she went to help Sky. She watched in mild fascination as the guard lunged for Jack and the Red Ranger's entire body seemed to glow red. It was in that moment that she watched the guard bounce off Jack's chest after trying to ram him with his shoulders. Jack? What's happening? she called out to her surrogate brother.
I think it's part of my powers. Instead of phasing through something, I can also make my body completely solid...like rock.
Sydney grinned and nodded, before her attention shifted to the woman currently stalking toward her. Oh God, not this again! she whined to herself before pushing up from the floor. "How about we settle this one on one?" Anna hissed.
"You just don't get it, do you?" Syd growled. "You've lost, get over it!" Sydney ducked as a large orb of power came flying at her head on. When she stood back up, she summoned her swords to her. "Two can play that game!"
"Bring it!" Anna howled, flying toward the Pink Ranger.
"PINK PHOENIX FIRE SWORDS!" Sydney called, unleashing the power in her weapons. Everyone else was momentarily startled when the two swords began to glow brightly with pink flames. Using training she never knew she had, Sydney used her swords to parry the powerful bolts of energy that Anna kept shooting at her.
Meanwhile, down the hallway, the others were engaged in battle with Viper, Anna's bodyguard, and the Tengas. "Sky!" Brian called out as he blocked Viper's advances when he saw the Blue Ranger collapse in the middle of the hallway.
Syd's head swiveled around from where she was facing Anna just in time to see the Blue Ranger go unconscious. Anna took the momentary distraction to hit Sydney with a blast of energy that sent the Pink Ranger flying across the hallway and into a wall.
Bridge and Z were torn on what to do. Brian was battling Viper, Jack was messing with Anna's bodyguard, Sky was unconscious, the Tengas had taken a hike and Sydney was painfully pushing herself up from where she'd hit the floor after smacking into the wall. Guard Sky! Syd's voice rang out in their heads. I can take care of Anna, and Brian and Jack are holding their own. Bridge and Z did as Syd told them to and moved to watch over Sky, while keeping an eye on the others.
"Listen to me, you egotistical, twisted, maniacal bitch! I don't know what the hell your problem is, but this ends here!" Sydney howled in rage, shedding her ranger suit along with her swords. If there was one thing she'd learned since she'd become a Ranger, it was that sometimes you just had to trust the powers inside of you instead of the powers in your morpher.
"You're too much of a perfect little ranger to kill me, Sydney!" Anna sneered at her.
Sydney didn't answer her opponent. Instead, she closed her eyes and pushed her powers out around herself, letting them expand further and further until the entire hallway of the ship was glowing pink. Anna's bodyguard left his fight with Jack to hover near her and Viper backed off from his fight with Brian to see what was happening.
The other Rangers noticed the change in Sydney that their enemies didn't; Sydney was no longer in control of her body, someone else was. "Red Ranger, lead the others back to your ship." Sydney's lips were moving, but the voice wasn't the Pink Ranger's voice. The other Rangers recognized it as the voice of Phoenix, Sydney's animal spirit. "Do as you're told, young ones."
Jack didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard, he just moved toward Bridge and Z to help Bridge lift Sky up from the floor. Brian followed the pair while Z took up the rear, making sure that none of their opponents followed them. "Are we just going to leave Sydney?" Brian wanted to know as the five of them got onto the ship and settled in.
"Are you going to argue with her Spirit Animal when she gives an order in that voice?" Jack shot back, settling into the pilot's seat next to Bridge. Z was in the back running one of the portable scanners over Sky. "Z, is he ok?"
"His energy levels are really low," Z muttered. "And I agree with Brian, are we seriously just going to leave Syd?"
The Red Ranger looked griped by indecision. On one hand, he knew he had to get the others out of the ship and back to Earth, while on the other he wanted to stay and fight alongside Sydney. His silent debate was shattered a moment later when a loud explosion rocked their ship away from the large one. When Jack and Bridge got their bearings, they noticed that a good portion of the ship where Sydney had been was now a gaping hole that was smoking.
"Oh God!" Sky's strained voice sounded. The Blue Ranger was struggling to sit up as the five of them stared at the smoking remains of Anna and Viper's ship. "Not again! SYD!"
Z and Brian restrained Sky, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to go back to the ship and find Sydney. "There's no way…" Z uttered and then closed her mouth when both Brian and Sky looked at her.
"Don't finish that sentence!" Sky's strangled voice warned Z, who closed her eyes and fought back tears. All of them knew exactly what Z was going to say, because they were all thinking the same thing. There was no way Sydney could have survived the magnitude of the blast that had ripped open the other ship.
"Set course for Earth," Jack's voice came out in a soft command. Bridge shook his head and moved to help set their course for home.
"We can't leave her!" Brian cried out, lunging for Jack's seat only to have Sky's hand shoot out and pulled the younger boy to him. Z couldn't handle looking at them. Sky was hugging Brian fiercely as the younger boy lost his battle with his out of control emotions; the sounds of their White Ranger crying for his sister in their Blue Ranger's arms was too much for all of them.