Up on the Warrior Dome, Galvanax was in his private training chamber, putting himself through his paces. While, like many, he did things like cardio and resistance work to keep in shape, as a long-time warrior, he truly did believe there was no greater practice for combat than actual combat. Being the Champion had certain privileges, meaning he could requisition virtually anything he wanted, from stock footage of his upcoming opponents for research, through every kind of training technology available right down to a virtually inexhaustible supply of sparring partners.
He was in this chamber, which had the gravity cranked up to twenty times that of Earth's meaning that everything weighed twenty times what it should. If he could function in this environment then very little on Earth would phase him. The only opponents that could withstand such abuse were robots, of which he had a steady supply fed into the room for him to destroy. His naginata sliced through limbs and smashed through armour as though it was crepe paper. As the room started to power down, he was already surrounded by ruined training robots.
"What? Who dares interrupt my training?" Galvanax demanded as he felt himself returning to his normal weight. Madame Odious came in the door. "This had better be good!"
"Actually, I was just going to tell you that Cosmo is about to introduce the final contestant." She told him. "I thought you might like to do some research…"
"Who is it?" Galvanax asked her.
"Forcefear." She told him. "He was the one…"
"I'll pass." Galvanax told her. "Turn the power back on when you leave."
"But Champ, it seems prudent for you to…"
"I said I'll pass!" Galvanax reiterated. "I am making my preparations for the title bout. Do NOT interrupt me again!"
"Of course, Champ." She sighed. "I will do as you ask."
As she left, she closed the door and turned the device back on. She shook her head in defeat.
"Sorry Champ, but when you stop listening to your manager you become more trouble than you're worth." She stated, before heading for her lab. "Keep that belt warm. You won't be wearing it much longer."
At the High School, it was shop class, and Mick had decided to take the class out into the yard to show off their extra credit projects. Mick's teaching methods were strange, even chaotic to say the least on the surface, but to say he had a knack for getting the best from his students was an understatement on the level of saying Galvanax had a temper problem. Everyone in the class had already finished all of their curriculum work weeks previously, and were now working on extra credit. Even the ones that were having difficulty or had no real interest in the subject had all attained passing grades.
Mick was like a kid at Christmas as he prepared view his students' creations. As much as he loved gadgets and devices and creating them himself, there was nothing more satisfying to him than seeing his students flourish and succeed. He was as fascinated by the thought processes and inspirations his students had for their various devices as he was by the devices themselves. Sure, there was always a temptation to jump in and help them out, or to suggest where they might improve their devices or ideas, but a large part of teaching was to let the kids figure those things out for themselves.
"Well, that new battery certainly creates a longer life span, and if I'm not mistaken, the materials are a lot easier to recycle than a standard battery." Mick said, looking impressed. "Well, there's some room for improvement, but if you keep this up, I'm sure landfills the world over will thank you."
"Not to mention we might actually make it all the way into school on one charge." Preston said with a smile as he put his arm around Sarah. "We actually made it to the bottom of the stairs this morning."
"That's really impressive." Mick stated. "Alright, next up we have Victor, Monty and Viera. So, let's see what you have. What's your class project?"
Victor stepped up, holding a strange device over his shoulder. They had no doubt that Viera and Monty likely did most of the technical work, but Victor was nothing if not a charismatic and confident person as far as public speaking was concerned, making him ideal for the role of presenting their findings. Victor had not only the looks, but also the confidence and presence of a used-car salesman that would likely take him far in a similar field. It was a good choice for the presentation, there were a lot of examples in history of scientists whose work never got public prominence simply because they didn't have the right promotion.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in the spirit of the prospectors of 1849, I aim to make us rich." Victor said aloud. "Does anyone here have any idea how much value in riches we walk right over every single day because it's buried? How much wealth is literally just lying around? Lost coins, jewellery…"
"So, it's a metal detector?" Sarah asked.
"It's even better than that, it's a metal RETRIEVER!" Victor corrected her. "Using specialised magnetic…uh…thingies, and different things, and…stuff…" He stammered, making it clear he had forgotten the presentation he was meant to memorise. "It not only FINDS buried metal, it attracts it and brings it up! This is a metal magnet, which we call, the Mighty Mag!"
"It can find and retrieve ANY kind of metal." Monty chipped in.
"Wow, that's great!" Hayley commented. "If it works, it could find all kinds of things! Buried trash, old waste, things that are causing harm to the earth we don't even know about! Giving this to garbage patrols could really help out the environment."
"Well…yeah, I guess you COULD use it that way." Victor stated. "But we were thinking on using it to find…"
"Hey, aren't there companies around here that lost tons of industrial waste years ago because they claimed they didn't keep records of where they buried it?" Calvin asked.
"Yeah, I remember hearing about that." Brody answered. "We could find those sites and make the companies pay to dispose of their waste responsibly!"
"Yeah…or you know, we could find treasure." Victor reiterated.
"So, it finds AND attracts metal?" Mick asked for clarification. Victor and Monty both smiled and nodded. Mick couldn't help looking around at the fact they were in the middle of a storage yard, filled with car parts! "Maybe we should try this…"
"Oh, it's perfectly safe! Let me try it on…that hubcap!" Victor said, picking out an item at random. "Stand back and be amazed!"
He pointed the device, and turned it on, at which the hubcap started to rattle, and then flew across the yard, attaching itself to the Mega Mag. Everyone gathered around them.
"Wow, that was so cool!" Someone commented. "That hubcap's made of chrome! It shouldn't be attracted by magnets!"
"That was really impressive!" Hayley complimented them. "Great work guys!"
"Yeah, it's really…"
"Uh guys…did you remember to turn that thing off?" Sarah asked. Almost in answer, her bracelets flew straight off her wrist. "HEY!"
"Guys…duck!" Preston called out as pieces started to fly off the shelves. Everyone ducked for cover as Victor was quickly buried under the trash.
"Victor!" Monty wailed, before seeing something else. Viera was clutching at her necklace, her face starting to turn red. "VIERA!"
The Rangers and Mick all looked to where Viera was standing, being pulled against a shelving unit, being strangled by the collar around her neck. The Lyonium collar she had been fitted with when she was deposed was still there, with the Rangers having yet to figure out a way to remove it. Sarah's bracelets, a few watches and suchlike there was no real issue, the clasps and suchlike either opened or were broken, but for Viera, the collar was welded in place, meaning that right now it was strangling her to death.
"VICTOR!" Sarah yelled at him, trying to pull apart the junk, but finding it too strongly held together. "Victor, you have to turn off the Mega Mag!"
"I'm…I'm trying!" He told her. "I can't reach…"
"VICTOR!" Monty yelled. "It's got Viera's necklace! It's strangling her!" Monty yelled at him. "Turn it off!"
They heard a loud crash, following which everything started to fall back. Viera fell to her knees and started coughing furiously as Monty ran over to her. Victor started to dig himself out of the trash.
"Um…well…it has a FEW kinks to work out." He stated. Everyone just glared at him.
"Well, technically it does what it's meant to." Mick conceded. "Let me see it again once you've refined the controls a little. Viera, I'll get you to the nurse…"
"I'll take her." Monty said as he helped her up. "It was our invention that hurt her, I'd like to make sure she's alright."
"OK." Mick conceded as Monty took Viera away to get looked at by the nurse. "Alright, so after that little bit of drama, let's try something a little less…dramatic. Calvin, I take it you and Hayley have been working on something for Nitro?"
"We have!" Calvin told him. "I am working on a new fuel intake system that will increase efficiency by a factor of 400 percent."
"Wow, that sounds really impressive." Mick said with a smile. "Can I take a look?"
"Unfortunately, I'm waiting on a few custom parts I've mail-ordered coming through." Calvin told him. "It operates under some pretty high pressures."
"Oh, so…we can't see it in operation." Mick said, sounding a little disappointed.
"Oh, but I should be able to build it pretty soon!" He told him.
"Well, any chance I can at least take a look at the schematics?" Mick asked. "I kind of need to see something to be able to get an idea of your progress."
"Yeah, Calvin." Victor scoffed. "I could say I built a rocket ship out of toilet roll holders but unless I actually have it, then it's just words."
"I have my designs right…oh…hang on a second…" Calvin said starting to rummage around in his pockets. "Oh shoot! I showed my designs to my mom this morning!"
"So, you don't have the prototype, or designs." Mick surmised. "So, you even have ANYTHING written down? A basic framework?"
"Sorry." Hayley said, sucking her teeth. "I was going to write it up but Calvin's not gone through his sketches with me."
"Come on guys, you're killing me here!" Mick said to them. "You've got to give me something to work with or I can't give you any kind of progress report."
"Look, Mick, I swear I can have my drawings here by tomorrow…" Calvin said as he heard an all too familiar engine. "Is that…Is that Nitro?"
"Calvin, it's just a truck…"
"I'd know Nitro's engine tone anywhere!" Calvin shrieked, making his way towards the gates. "Someone's stealing my truck!"
As he opened the gates though, Nitro was right outside, and the horn sounded. Calvin stood back as Ava drove the truck into the middle of the yard, sounding the horn as she went. She pulled up and shut off the engine, before stepping out.
"Um…Hi!" Mick offered, looking to the woman stepping out of the truck. "Uh…who are you?"
"Oh, sorry." Ava said, lifting up her welder's mask, realising it was blocking him seeing her face. They weren't too familiar, but Ava had been to a few parent teacher meetings. She offered him a hand. "Ava, Ava Maxwell. We met at the PTA meeting a few months ago. Mick isn't it?"
"Oh yeah! We talked about the possible new materials for a catalytic converter!" Mick said, shaking her hand.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Calvin asked her. Ava looked to her son with a bright smile.
"I'm here to help your presentation my little moon pie!" She said, getting a laugh from the others. Calvin started to turn a little red. He really wished his mom hadn't used her pet-name for him in front of his friends. "I saw you left your designs, so I was going to run them over but then I took a little look at them and thought maybe I could help you with them a little."
"Thanks mom, but that really isn't necessary." Calvin told her uneasily. "I'm just waiting on some parts…"
"Oh, there's no need for that, I had some stuff in the garage that I could use!" She told him.
"Uh…mom, I already had a look around the garage." Calvin said. "If there was anything there I could use I'd have asked…"
"Oh nonsense! You just don't know how to re-purpose properly!" She told him. "A little angle grinding here, a little weld there and I put something together."
"Mom, that's really nice and all but I don't think…"
"I've got a sketch here showing what I've done." She told Mick, showing him the design.
"Mom that's really not necessary!" Calvin protested, before looking to the design.
"I also decided to take the liberty of putting together a little prototype." She told them. "I even fitted it and it's ready to go!"
"You made a…wait, what?" Calvin asked. "You…you put it into Nitro?"
"Yes, it's ready to go! I'll just go and turn her over!" Ava said excitedly, bounding over to the truck. Everyone else was having a great time watching how uncomfortable Calvin was at his mother's interference.
"Mom, I can't believe you went and put an untested part in my truck!" Calvin told her. "That thing operates at some pretty high pressures, I was going to stress-test it…"
Ava turned over the engine, at which Nitro roared into life, purring contentedly as she revved it a few times. She looked to her son and smiled.
"You see? Nothing to worry about!" She told him. "What's more, I think I might have actually managed to squeeze a little more performance out of it. It could actually operate at five times efficiency…"
"FIVE times? Mom, that's way too high!" Calvin told her. Although his mom had taught him a lot about engines, virtually everything he knew, his contact with the Ninja Steel had opened up his mechanical and spatial comprehension to new heights and his skills with engines had exploded in the last few months. He was open to concepts and ideas that never occurred to him before.
"Oh, you worry too much moon pie…"
"Mom, I'm serious, you need to turn that off…" Just then, there was a rattle from the engine.
"Oh…oh, that doesn't sound good!" Mick commented.
"And that really doesn't look good either!" Sarah gulped as smoke started billowing from under the hood. Before Ava could turn off the engine, there was a loud bang and the hood flew open hard, before the engine suddenly spluttered to a stall. Calvin and Mick ran to the truck, propping open the hood as Ava got out, seeing them waving away all the smoke.
"It's…it's alright, it's just a little snag…"
"A little snag?" Calvin asked her as his temper flared. "It blew out half the engine! The carburettor, the electrics, the oil pump…all of it's going to have to be replaced!"
"Moon pie, I'm sorry…"
"Sorry isn't going to repair my truck!" Calvin snapped at her. Ava backed away, looking at him a little stunned.
"I'm sorry." She said, her lip beginning to quiver a little as her eyes sparkled. "I was only trying to help."
"MOM! I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!" Calvin yelled at her. "Why do you always have to jump into the middle of things?"
Ava just gulped and nodded wordlessly as she heard this, before getting her things out of the truck.
"I'm…I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'll…I'll pay for the replacements. I'll see you at home."
With that, she left the yard, heading for the bus home.
Meanwhile, at a truck-stop miles from anywhere of note, Grace Sterling pulled into the parking lot, killing the engine and getting out. Heading inside, she found that there weren't many other customers. A couple of drivers taking a break but most of the place was still largely empty. The waitress saw the new entrant and smiled.
"I'll be with you in a moment." She told her. "Sit wherever you like."
"Actually, I'm looking for someone." She told her.
"Over here!" A voice came from the corner. She turned to the corner, where a man in a dark suit was waving her over. She smiled as she saw him, making her way over. "The burgers aren't bad here."
"I actually gave up red meat about fifteen years ago. It played havoc with my digestion." Grace told him.
"Maybe some fries then?" He asked. "A shake?"
"Just coffee." She answered as the waitress came across. The man just nodded.
"Put it on the tab." He told her. "It's good to see you again Grace. I have to admit I was surprised when you called."
"It's nice to see you again too Jason." She told him. "So, how's the Secret Service?"
"It's not as much fun as it used to be." He said with a shrug. "Then again I guess I never expected things to be the same after my best friend left the Oval Office."
"So how is Zack anyway?" She asked him.
"He's enjoying 'retirement'." He chuckled. "Between speaking engagements and writing books he hasn't had much actual retirement time."
"So, you got the file?" She asked him.
"You never were much for small talk, were you?" Jason asked her. He opened up his brief case, pulling out a flash drive. He put it on the table. "That wasn't easy to get."
"If I couldn't get it myself I'd say so." Grace answered.
"No, you don't get it! I might have had the President's ear during the last administration, but now? I had to call in a hell of a lot of favours." Jason told her. "I even had to play Golf with the Secretary of Defence! Do you have any idea how much I fucking hate golf?"
"I guess there's not enough violence in Golf for your liking, right?" She asked.
"Something like that." Jason said with a laugh. "So, if burgers are out, can you at least stop for a slice of pie with an old friend? This place sells the best pie in thirty miles."
"Would that be because it's the only restaurant in thirty miles?" She asked in response. Jason just nodded.
"That might have something to do with it." He answered. "Two slices of apple pie please, a la mode!"
"Coming right up!" The waitress called back. Jason just looked to Grace.
"So, what's this latest team like?" He asked her. She just shrugged.
"I've not actually met them yet. I've been kept pretty busy keeping the authorities off their case though." She answered.
"At least my team didn't give you that kind of trouble." Jason chuckled.
"It really was a more innocent time." Grace agreed as their pie arrived. She took the flash drive and put it away. "So, have you seen any of the others lately?"