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Chapter 20 – Bravo
Panthera tore across the desolate landscape at an incredible speed, the swirling winds of the dust-storm seeming to part and make way for her as Masked Rider Build's jet-bike powered onwards; the vehicle was a deep metallic crimson in colour with black and silver detailing adorning its' sides and featured a more angular and aggressive design than those used by Ghost and Ex-Aid, though it earned its' reputation as the fastest of the trio of jet-bikes through more than its' appearance and featured a massively oversized thruster of some kind, cylindrical and coloured a deep burnished gold with pale cyan light spewing from it as it propelled the bike forwards.
Soon after she had closed her comm channel with Mercy the sight of the battle ahead came into view; the Pink Rangers' own impressive senses being enhanced further by her helmet and showing her that Aslaug, Tempestus, Rensa, Takeru and Sento were all being simply overwhelmed as Acinonyx flitted between each of them and delivered a series of horrific blows intended to maul and dismember only to be forced back as the rest of the Riders and Rangers threw themselves into the fray, each of them sported armour that was gouged and damaged though Panthera saw that there was something plainly wrong with her sister, her body glowed and crackled with ethereal green light.
As the cyborg continued to rampage through her friends and allies defences the Pink Ranger realised that she would have to apply more force that she had initially intended and pushed the jet-bike further still, forcing every last ounce of power she could from the vehicle. Panthera reached the battle just as Acinonyx pounced at Masked Rider Ghost, impossibly sharp claws extended
"GET BACK!" she called out in warning as she brought the jet-bike into a sharp turn, nose of the vehicle dipping downwards as the oversized rear thruster rose into the air and as the Pink Ranger used her momentum to hurl herself from the saddle, rolling to a stop several feet away Acinonyx collided with the rear of the jet-bike. The golden thruster was torn free by the impact and promptly exploded and as Panthera rose to her feet, unharmed by a simple crash due to her armour she saw that Build's jet-bike had been entirely consumed in the blast.
Acinonyx remained however.
Panthera watched in shock and secret relief as her sisters' corrupted form rose to its' feet, her mechanical right hand reduced to a stump of twisted and sparking, blackened metal and her bloodied teal skin scorched in several places whilst she shook embers free of her mane of matted violet hair.
"What are you doing here?" Build demanded "And how did you get my bike?"
"Emu" Panthera answered simply, currently lacking the patience to entertain the eldest princes' suspicions or anger
"Groovy, we need all the help we can get" Tempestus admitted and Panthera noted that his visor was cracked and several claw marks were clearly visible along the side of his helmet.
"We think we have a plan" Aslaug murmured, keeping a watchful eye on Acinonyx who seemed to be sizing up the group and carefully choosing her next target, paying close attention to Panthera as she did so.
"I'm listening" Panthera replied, privately considering manifesting her weapons but deciding against it, if she had to pull a blow at the last moment it would be more noticeable if she were armed
"Look at where her chest armour is missing, that green light….we think it's what's allowing her to access the Morphing Grid-"
"And if we can take it out she'll be powerless" Panthera nodded in understanding "Got it" without warning she shot forwards and Acinonyx pounced.
Exactly as planned.
The Pink Ranger was flung backwards, perilously close to the edge of the gorge that the Rangers and Masked Riders had been making their way towards when they were attacked; though as she rose to her feet on admittedly shaky legs she wore a confident smirk beneath her helmet, Aslaug's information may have been useful but she still had her own plan in progress.
"That all you got? You're getting sloppy!" she taunted, hoping that there was enough of Acinonyx's mind left after the horrors that had been inflicted on her to react; whether it was in response to the Pink Ranger's words or purely primitive instinct Acinonyx charged towards her again. Rensa made to leap at her and found the sparking remains of her hand driven into his visor with enough force to crack its' surface and seemingly cause some sort of feedback if the way he staggered away blindly were any indication. Ghost, who had lost his sword in the battle attempted to tackle the cyborg only to be swatted aside with ease as the energies coursing over Acinonyx's body fluctuated and spiked. Panthera braced herself and ducked beneath the savage swipe of her sisters' remaining hand, the claws passing over her skull as she delivered a powerful punch to Acinonyx's gut before reaching around to grab her sisters' tail and forcefully pull her off balance; the larger and mutated Felidae responded with berserk thrashing as Panthera continued to deliver blows to unprotected areas of her body. Beneath her helmet she let out a snarl of frustration at the sight of the fellow Rangers and the Masked Riders finally gathering themselves and rushing in to join her.
That was not part of the plan.
She quickly stepped back and made as though the were preparing to launch the sort of dramatic looking spinning kick that Mercy favoured and Acinonyx capitalised, lunging towards her; the Pink Ranger seized her sister beneath the shoulders and allowed herself to topple backwards.
Sending both of them over the edge of the gorge.
They plummeted downwards, exchanging blows as they did so until Acinonyx finally broke free of Panthera's grasp and the two of them attempted to right themselves as they saw the ground rushing up to meet them. Felixian heritage as the descendants of jungle predators who struck from the trees was put to the test and the Pink Ranger landed in a crouch, plumes of dust rising from the ground as it cracked and cratered beneath her whilst waves of pain washed over her body from the force of the landing; close by Acinonyx landed on her three remaining limbs in a clumsy and uncoordinated way before letting out a feral roar and charging again.
Panthera manifested one of her curved blades in a flash of light, the time had come.
"I'm sorry" she whispered as she rushed forwards to meet the charge, knocking Acinonyx's damaged limb aside and feeling the claws of her remaining hand rip through her armour and tear through the flesh of her shoulder and upper right arm, she pushed on however and watched Acinonyx's now red eyes widen in shock as the blade pierced her chest, cleaving the glowing green device implanted there in half.
The arcane and unsettling light enveloping her dissipated in a matter of seconds and Panthera pressed her advantage by reaching around to the back of her sisters' head and ripping the remains of the helmet that Mercy had damaged away from her skull
"I'm sorry" she sobbed as Acinonyx yowled in protest, ripping the blade free of her sisters' chest the Pink Ranger saw that her allies were in the process of climbing down the side of the gorge and silently hoped that Mercy had been successful before she delivered a carefully measured blow to the side of her sisters' skull and threw her now limp and unconscious form away from her.
Just as a flash of light preceded the sound of an explosion.
Panthera shielded her eyes for several moment before turning back to where Acinonyx had been, nothing remained of her beyond a crater and she barely registered the sound of her weapon clattering against the ground as it slipped from her grasp or the sound of footsteps rushing towards her, her head was numb and filled with distant buzzing until she felt a hand on her shoulder
"Are you okay?" Aslaug demanded
"What happened?" Sento quickly added, his urgency understandable "Where is-"
"I cut through the device in her chest" Panthera managed to force the words out, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks "And then there was an explosion"
"But no wreckage?" Ghost noted coldly
"A total self destruct in order to stop their weapon being captured" Tempestus mused "It sounds exactly like the sort of grody to the max thing that the Dark Empire would use" there was a moment of tense silence and quiet disbelief that the opponent who had come so close to killing them was now simply gone without a trace, eventually Aslaug's grip on Panthera's shoulder tightened a fraction.
"Are you okay?"
"No….But I will be" Panthera lied, she promised herself that she would tell the other Rangers as soon as they were way from Edenoi; she had no intention of making Mercy carry her secrets for her but in the meantime she simply allowed herself to cry tears of joy.
Her plan had worked.
Above the surface of Edenoi a single spaceship hung in high orbit, the vessel was a relatively small one whose overall shape could best be described as resembling some sort of legless beetle; a small cockpit with a plethora of various sensors mounted around it which led to a sleek, rounded and tapering cargo section which formed the bulk of its' body whilst a series of propulsion system protruded from the side and fanned out, leading to outlets that trailed behind the ship and were narrow in proportion. The ship was known by a hundred different names across a thousand different ports and the being who captained it had just as many aliases to choose from of their own.
Being a member of the Smugglers' Guild meant that certain precautions had to be taken after all.
The captain was an alien with a wrinkled and leathery hide of a deep royal blue colour, flecked with iridescent yellow markings; they were short and stockily built with broad shoulders and four powerful arms that ended in hands with three surprisingly narrow and delicate fingers tipped with suction pads. They lacked any form of neck and their head was a flattened and vaguely shovel-like affair with horned ridges forming eyebrows and a frog-like sack beneath their lower jaw which expanded and deflated with each breath they took, their single remaining eye was a bulbous and watery thing; iris and sclera both the same vivid shade of yellow whilst an eyepatch covered where another eye had once been, the patch serving to add to the character of the beings' attire which could be summarised with the words spacefaring swashbuckler and featured several ostentatious fur coats, intended to deal with the problems caused by being cold blooded whilst in space.
This was Captain Ranidae, not the name that they had been hatched with but the one that they used the most and that their crew knew them by and their ship was known to that same crew as the Majesty, the same aspirational name it had borne when both Panthera and Acinonyx Cato had served aboard it.
"Target secured!" a member of the crew called out, Ranidae stepped forwards, lurching on a prosthetic leg that was truthfully no more than a blunt length of metal
"STAND READY!" he raised a high powered laser "She might be a lively one!" eventually the light of the teleportation stream dissipated and the environmental controls of the majesty adjusted to account for the transferred atmosphere from the planet below. Bracing themselves Ranidae prepared for the seemingly inevitable attack only to be surprised when it didn't come and instead found themselves gazing in utter disbelief at what had become of their former crew-mate
"Is that….is that little Nyxy?" one of the dozen or so members of the Smugglers' Guild surrounding the teleportation platform lowered their weapon and let out a slew of curses in their mother tongue in a hushed whisper before stepping forwards and gently prodding the unconscious Felidae who had clearly been subject to some unspeakable forms of experimentation
"It is" the gasped "She's breathing at least….but what have they done to her?"
"Good, alive is a start" Ranidae nodded, their voice a thick and guttural burble. As they slowly retreated back towards the small cockpit that was far too small to reasonably be called a command bridge, gaze never leaving Acinonyx Cato as their crew began securing her to ensure that, should she wake up they would be safe. After a moment of dazed silenced Ranidae opened communications on the same restricted channel that he had been contacted on by someone claiming to be an ally of Panthera Cato.
"This is Captain Ranidae, mission was a success"
"You've got her? You've got Acinonyx?" the voice of Mercy Jackson demanded, distorted somewhat by interference caused by the planet itself
"Aye we've got her….Nobody on Edenoi ever need know we were here, their planet-side scanners and defences aren't bad but I've definitely seen better, no way they know we're here"
"But what about the teleportation?" Mercy added insistently "Someone must have seen-"
"Since you're such good friends with Panthera you can ask her how many times us lot in the Guild have used the old grenade switcheroo to make it look like something we wanted had just miraculously exploded"
"Thank you" Mercy finally spoke after several moments of tense silence "It means a lot to Panthera-"
"It means a lot to me" Ranidae snorted "Those two were on my ship for a good few years, I watched 'em grow up in the Guild"
"So….what happens now?" Ranidae debated giving a scathing rebuke or a non-answer that would misdirect her, before deciding against it. Something seemed to indicate to them that Mercy could be trusted even beyond the fact that Panthera vouched for her, the smuggler trusted their gut and spoke honestly
"I'm gonna take her back to Felix, she might be Star-Born but they'll find somewhere safe for her, make her comfortable….No doubt that quite a few Felixians are gonna be upset about this being done to one of their own; so if we can't find a way to undo what's been done to her we'll go after the Dark Empire and get answers out of them"
"There are plenty of other people fighting the Dark Empire, we could put you in touch with some of our allies so you can co-ordinate your efforts" Mercy offered
"We might just take you up on that offer" Ranidae answered "Tell Panthera that old Ran said hello" with that they closed the channel and turned to their crew, Acinonyx had been secured and was being carried out of view to a reinforced and isolated member of the cargo hold. The stocky alien straightened up and began barking orders
"SET COURSE TO FELIX, FULL SPEED AHEAD AND FIRE ON ANY DARK EMPIRE SHIPS WE CROSS PATHS WITH ON THE WAY!"
The individual plates of Lord Zedd's armour gave metallic rasps as they shifted against each other when the towering and monstrous warlord adjusted his weight in his throne, the flickering and translucent blue form of Paradoxa's holographic projection flickering into view before him whilst Lord Zedd himself was currently hidden from view; though the insectoid hybrid entrusted with leading the Vanguard Fleet remained bowed with one knee bent and her eyes firmly downcast despite being able to see nothing more than the vague outline of the throne itself and the raised dais that it stood upon, the light of the torches which burned without end occasionally reflecting in a piece of armour to give a suggestion of the entirety of his form.
"My Lord" Paradoxa's usual silky smooth tones were entirely absent and her composure seemed to be slipping; Lord Zedd let out a growl of displeasure, a deep rumbling sound which vibrated through the floor of his throne room and caused the hologram before him flicker.
"Rise and report" he demanded bluntly, Paradoxa did so and Lord Zedd could tell even in her holographic form that her face had paled with fear
"My Lord" she repeated "We recently lost contact with the specimen on Edenoi, the officer I sent to oversee the field testing is missing, presumed dead….by your leave I can prepare a-"
"Silence" Lord Zedd growled before rising from his throne and striding purposefully into full view, the darkness seeming to peel away from him and retreat as though the towering and armoured tyrant controlled it "Do not presume to know that extend of my plans Paradoxa, you forget your place….tell me what information was collected during the field testing"
"The specimen engaged with the Masked Riders of Edenoi on multiple instances. The first instance was reported by my officer as being a success, leading to the Edonians retreating; the second presumably being where said officer was killed and the mechanical components of the specimen were damaged, limiting the amount of information that could be gathered. The third encounter occurred little more than an hour ago….from what can be discerned it seems that the Edonians had more firepower at their disposal during the second and third-"
"Not more firepower" Lord Zedd corrected, sensing the truth of the matter "They had allies, the Power Rangers of Earth and the Masked Rider of Edenoi have remembered their old alliance it seems….no matter"
"No matter my Lord?" Paradoxa was utterly baffled by the sentiment, was this not proof of concept of Lord Zedd's great weapon to be deployed against the Alliance and their Power Rangers
"Your teleportation gate is capable of two more uses?" Lord Zedd demanded, already knowing the answer to the question
"It is my lord" Paradoxa answered, eager to do anything that would raise her standing in her masters' eyes
"Continue in your campaign but make no use of the gate. You have served me well Paradoxa, the information you gathered will prove useful….the specimen was merely a proof of concept, soon I will deliver the final iteration of my weapon to you"
"You honour me my Lord" Paradoxa bowed "I will see your enemies crushed beneath the might of your Empire" Lord Zedd watched the calculating glint in her eyes as curiosity fought with survival instinct, the desire to know what this weapon would be and how it could best be applied being weighed against the knowledge that questioning him was a dangerous prospect until finally it seemed she had chosen to remain silent
"You're dismissed" the tyrant chuckled before ending the transmission with a mere thought.
Silence reigned in their throne room as they turned their gaze upon the rows of skulls lining the path towards the dais, each skull still wearing the helmet of the Power Ranger that they had once been.
"Soon" armoured claws firmly grasped the broken helmet of the man who had led the doomed attack on Acheron itself, setting the Empire back decades but only fanning the flames of Lord Zedd's hatred
"Soon" he repeated as the metallic, forest green armour began to creak and buckle, cracking further under his grasp "Soon I will succeed where my father failed and the worlds that cowered behind you and your Rangers will burn Tommy Oliver" with that Lord Zedd stormed away from his throne, the Putties sculpted of black marble bowing in absolute silence as the massive and heavily armoured doors they guarded opened; the towering warlord striding through them and making his way deeper into his palace.
There was still much to be done.
Paradoxa could not know or appreciate the true nature and scope of what was being set into motion; whilst the specimen that she had been given to test had carried an experimental connection to the Morphing Grid and that in of itself was no small feat, Lord Zedd had access to enough Morphers taken from fallen Rangers and information gleaned from Paradoxa's reports regarding these new Aegis Rangers to reverse engineer their technology and his true goals lay elsewhere.
What the Alliance had called Project Crucible was in fact a bastardisation of the nature of Acheron and Lord Zedd was filled with rage by the knowledge that the man who had once been his father had undoubtedly played a part in it; the machine and the research that had created it had taken the principals of his peoples' chimeric and mutable nature, the ability to hybridise their own genetics with anything that they encountered and applied them to the task of creating some kind of genetically engineered being who would be born with a guaranteed strong connection to and compatibility with the Morphing Grid.
The Alliance had made an artificial Power Ranger and now Lord Zedd had proof, beyond a shadow of doubt that his own version of the process would yield results; furthermore the genetic material that had been used to mutate the specimen proved that it was possible, for the first time recorded history to create a Power Ranger of Acheron descent.
Lord Zedd satisfied himself with the fact that change was coming.
"You're sure you don't need any more treatment for that?"
"Yours is worse and you're walking around" Panthera countered, nodding at Mercy's chest in response to her question; the Red Ranger currently wore an Edonian tunic of sorts to replace clothes that had been utterly soaked in blood. It had taken the Power Rangers and Masked Riders several hours to return to return to the Royal Palace of Edenoi and in that time the Pink Ranger's armour and the power of the Morphing Grid had gone some way to heal the slashes left by Acinonyx's claws in her right arm and shoulder, though she was left with several raised and ugly, discoloured scars which had prompted the Red Ranger's concern. Mercy herself had been declared fit enough to leave the Edonian equivalent to a hospital her treatment, presided over by Emu having been deemed a success and left her with only minimal scarring, though Panthera had naturally not seen this herself to confirm it; it seemed that the only side-effect of her medicine was a slight disorientation which was easily remedied with Aslaug's hand resting on her lower back, a solution which both young women seemed to be pleased with.
"I've had a full day of rest and treatment, you've had a hike back here and some painkillers" Mercy noted pointedly
"I'm sure we'll be given a full medical check once we return to the Aquabase" Aslaug sighed, earning a chorus of groans in response as the five Rangers made their way towards the throne room of the Royal Palace where King Dex was waiting for them; upon their arrival the Rangers and Takeru had been sent to have their various injuries, thankfully minor as they were tended to whilst Sento was debriefed and explained to his father what had happened; the task traditionally falling to the eldest son or most senior Masked Rider alone. After a few more hours had passed, in which the Rangers had managed to recuperate a little and collect their wits they had been informed by an Alpha droid that they would be leaving Edenoi.
"Rangers" King Dex greeted them as they entered his throne room, he was flanked by his sons who strode forwards as he rose from his seat.
"I cannot thank you enough for your aid and the service that you have done to the people of Edenoi" Dex bowed his head and the gesture was returned by each of the Rangers "Edenoi, and I personally owe each of you a debt….furthermore it seems that I have allowed my people to become isolated, thinking that in simply ignoring the rest of the galaxy and focusing on rebuilding our own domain within it we would be immune to the evils that remain; evidently I was wrong. I must consult my advisors but I feel that it's time that Edenoi reached out and forged new Alliances"
"It would be a pleasure to fight alongside the Masked Riders again one day" Mercy answered respectfully, Panthera gave no answer to that but her amber and slitted eyes narrowed a fraction; something which King Dex obviously noted
"And to you Panthera I can only offer my deepest apologies and the hopes that your sister finds peace in whatever afterlife awaits your people"
"Thank you" the Pink Ranger murmured, not trusting herself to say any more. Sensing nothing amiss Dex turned to Tempestus
"And you my friend, it has been far too long since I spoke with Billy Cranston….it will be a pleasure to tell him that his son is a credit to him" the Blue Ranger beamed with pride as the King continued "And this is where we part ways Rangers" the Masked Riders stepped forwards Sento shaking hands firmly with both Mercy and Aslaug, Panthera saw Takeru step close to her and offered a hand which he took and used to pull her close before whispering in her ear
"I can't prove it but I know you're lying to us" Panthera fought to keep her expression neutral, only for relief to wash over her with his next words "As long as Edenoi is never threatened again your secrets are safe with me Pink Ranger" she was still numb and frankly shell-shocked when Takeru released her and the familiar tingling of teleportation began to set in as vibrant fuchsia light enveloped her.
The Rangers reappeared in streams of multicoloured light and found themselves in familiar surroundings, the teleportation chamber of the Lightspeed Aquabase had remained unchanged in the short time they had been away; in truth it had been less than two days though it had felt far longer.
"Welcome back Rangers" Zebidiah Lord's voice greeted them, the former Lord Zedd joining Captain Kimberley Hart in flanking Vice-Admiral Dana Mitchell.
"It's good to be home" Mercy answered, snapping off a tired salute
"I appreciate that you're all tired" Kimberley sighed "But unfortunately the usual debriefing and medical process will still apply"
"At the bare minimum" Dana added "We need to understand what happened on Edenoi, that the Dark Empire have managed to create a warrior capable of using the Morphing Grid is concerning enough, but that they ensured that it's remains couldn't be studied….that suggests something else" Panthera's blood pounded in her ears, she had intended to tell the other Rangers but it seemed that her hand was being forced
"Vice-Admiral….Acinonyx didn't die on Edenoi" the teal skinned alien was acutely aware of all eyes focusing on her and she stood rigid as she continued "I contacted members of the Smugglers' Guild and once I disabled her connection to the Morphing Grid and knocked her unconscious they teleported her out and made it look like an explosion. They'll make sure that there's no way that she can be tracked down by the Dark Empire, Lightspeed or anybody else who wants to experiment on her….I don't know where they've taken her and I wouldn't tell you if I did; so if I'm gonna be labelled a traitor like Strike-Squad Alpha then let's just get it over with" as she spoke she slipped her Aegis Morpher from her wrist and tossed it to Kimberley who caught it despite the stunned expression she wore, this time Panthera made no effort to remove her Power Coin from the device and merely waited with ice in her veins and a dull buzzing filling her skull as the seconds dragged by at a torturous pace
"Then you'll have to call me a traitor as well" Mercy's voice snapped the Pink Ranger from her silently terrified state, the Red Ranger stepped forwards and began unfastening her own Morpher "Because I helped her do it" no sooner had Panthera shot Mercy a furious and questioning glance, silently demanding to know what she thought she was doing than Aslaug and Rensa had stepped forward to join them
"I would do the same for Andros" the Black Ranger announced "If she's to be punished for protecting her people then perhaps you're not the people he thought you were when he sent me to join you"
"She protected her family, anything less would be dishonourable. Punish them and I return to Mirinoi, my people have no alliances with cowards" the Yellow Ranger growled; finally Tempestus stepped forward and met Kimberley's eye
"Billy taught me that sometimes the logical answer is not the correct one….and that some orders can't and shouldn't be followed" Zebidiah, Kimberley and Dana remained silent for a moment and the former Pink Lightspeed Ranger took Panthera's Morpher
"So, to be frank" she breathed "You allowed a potential enemy to go free and are threatening a mutiny in retaliation to any repercussions to this?"
"I didn't ask them-" Mercy promptly stepped in front of Panthera and cut her off.
"Yes Ma'am" Dana nodded and turned the Aegis Morpher absently in her hands before catching sight of the Titanium Morpher adorning her own wrist; the brother whom she had inherited the Morpher from had been thought dead for years and raised by the literal demons her team had fought, yet still he had been allowed to freely depart from Lightspeed to find himself. To her right was Kimberley who had been in a relationship with Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger who had once been a servant of Rita Repulsa and yet neither of them had ever faced suspicions whilst to her left was Zebidiah Lord who had once been the head of the very Empire they were at war with. Dana let out a sigh and knew that there was only one choice that could be made without sinking to detestable levels of hypocrisy.
She tossed Panthera's Morpher back to her
"You're right, moral character and principles are more important than blind obedience….they always will be, or we become the enemy" she turned to Kimberley and Zebidiah and saw them both nodding in agreement
"Then it's settled" Dana gestured to the exit "But an official debriefing still needs to be carried out, it seems we have a lot to talk about"
A low whine of pain escaped Acinonyx's lips as consciousness returned to her slowly and begrudgingly.
Though she could scarcely recall it she had been transferred from the Dark Empire ship to a place that could only be explained as nightmares made real and even that description failed to convey the true scope of the horror; in that place her body, mind and very genetic structure had been forcefully broken apart and reforged and ever since a murderous, hateful presence had filled her mind, directing her thoughts and urging her attack almost every living thing she encountered and granting her the power to do so with unmatched ferocity. That presence was gone, yet the space in her psyche it had occupied remained vacant leaving her simply lost and adrift amongst her own disjointed thoughts and memories as clarity refused to come.
Glancing down at the cause of the most severe of the many sources of pain demanding her limited and fleeting attention Acinonyx saw that her entire right forearm was simply missing; she had fragmented and barely discernable recollections of the hand being damaged but could not account for the rest of the damage, a distant part of her mind told her that she should be surprised or worried by this development yet she couldn't bring herself to feel the emotion. Warnings continued to blare in her mind, genuine thoughts interspersed by alerts forcefully inserted by the remnants of the machinery inserted into her skull and all of it covered by a layer of dull haziness as she took in the sight of her chest armour which had been sealed shut, in a somewhat roughshod after the damage she remembered receiving from the yellow shape with the sharp edge. Further inspection revealed that she was that she was restrained and had been declawed in the most literal sense of the word, the sharp implements adorning the fingers of her remaining hand had been removed and a heavy shackle had been placed around her wrist, bringing her tail into view showed her that the blades which had been built into the mechanical limb were similarly missing and a single thought pushed through the fog filling her mind as each of the warring and disparate parts of her psyche came to an agreement.
They needed to break free.
That sudden revelation coincided with the sound of a heavy door being opened and Acinonyx suddenly took notice of her immediate surroundings, she was chained to a wall in an undecorated and unfurnished storeroom that had seemingly been hastily emptied with a mass of blankets beneath her serving as a bed; she was confused by the sudden familiarity of the place as scents in the air triggered something that had been lost or buried in her mind. All thoughts were pushed aside however as the sound of someone stepping through the freshly opened door demanded her attention, a green-skinned and slender being with a long serpentine tail which coiled and uncoiled agitatedly behind them. Acinonyx's eyes, enhanced by the experiments and alterations picked up on every barely perceptible twitch of the newcomers facial muscle and the way that her eyes widened upon seeing Acinonyx awake and at least somewhat alert
"We'll fix this Nyxy, we'll find a way to fix this" the newcomer, whose name remained painfully, mockingly just out of reach whispered, voice trembling with every syllable until she forced herself to at least appear brave and continued
"The Cap'n said to make your favourite and see if it jogged any memories" the alien woman with the elusive name set a tray of something with a familiar scent on the ground before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small, mechanical looking puck of some kind "And there's this, it's for you….I don't know what's on it but….you can't even understand me can you?" she trailed off, waiting and clearly desperately hoping for an answer and something twisted inside Acinonyx as her tortured mind frantically tried to form words, in the end however she merely silently cocked her head in silent confusion. The green-skinned woman nodded in understanding and sniffled as she retreated towards the door
"Well, it's good to see you again anyway" as the door closed again Acinonyx moved forwards tentatively and found that the shackle and chain holding her to the wall were in fact long enough to allow her free reign of the room she had been placed in and she quickly brought a chunk of something bloody and instantly familiar to her mouth before something compelled her to examine the puck that had been left with her food; she did so and swiftly recalled as a blue light filled the air in front of her, a translucent and flickering blue image taking shape. Acinonyx's eyes widened at the sight of another familiar figure, this one more easily recognisable; another Felixian, the one whom she had faced on the dusty world she had been taken from.
Acinonyx was sure that she knew her from somewhere else and that she was important, though before she could try and force her mind to cooperate the hologram began to speak.
"Hey Acinonyx it's me….although I don't know if that means anything to you right now" the figure gave a watery chuckle before continuing "All the time I spent convincing myself that you were alive and that I was gonna find you and I never did figure out what I was supposed to say to you when I did….I'm sorry that you had to get me out of that mess, I'm sorry for what it cost you, I'm sorry it took me so long to find you, I'm sorry for everything that's happened….I'm just sorry" the figure fell silent, taking a moment to wipe their eyes and force the shuddering sobs that shook her to stop.
"I don't know when we'll see each other again; I don't know where Ranidae is taking you, I wouldn't let my friend tell me….we both know I'll do something stupid. I promise I'll find you when this is all over, we're gonna stop 'em Nyxy, we're gonna stop the whole Dark Empire" she paused again, the emotional weight of the monologue clearly taxing her "If by some miracle you manage to come and look for me then you can find me on Earth; I know, I know right in the middle of Alliance territory, I can hear you complaining and I'm honestly hoping you'll come here just to chew me out for it….it's a home though and I lost the Claw, that's another thing I'm sorry for. I promise that we'll see each other again and we'll tear through the stars like old times….I know there's still a few places that you wanted to do runs, but in the meantime I guess this is goodbye. I love you" the image flickered away and Acinonyx stared at the space the hologram had occupied in silence for several moments, a low and primal growl escaping her.
And then something seemed to slide into place in her mind
"Pan-Panthera….Panthera, sister?" the name was tested out cautiously, then repeated several times as if to ensure that it fit before Acinonyx realised that it did, she then peered towards the now closed door and thought of the green-skinned young woman who had spoken to her "Honnari?" the word sounded familiar to her ears and Acinonyx turned her attention back to the food that had been brought.
Healing her mind would be long and difficult journey but the first steps had been taken.
'Three typical average kids who loved to read their comic strips, wishing one day they could be big, bad Beetleborgs. BIG BAD-'
"Of all the stories that the people on your world have told themselves, this one might just be the strangest" Aslaug noted with an amused snort as the theme-song for a show that Mercy had enjoyed as a child filled the living area of their quarters.
"Would you believe me if I told you it was based on a true story?" Mercy countered, Aslaug gave her a disbelieving stare and she merely shrugged in response "Hey it was an old rumour, the Beetleborgs were real….I'm not sure though, I mean none of the Power Rangers have ever met them but it's not like it'd be the weirdest thing to happen on Earth" she trailed off with a contented sigh and merely leaned against Aslaug who responded by wrapping and arm around her and adjusting her position for both of their comfort.
The debriefing had taken an obscene amount of time, wither every minute detail of the Aegis Rangers time on Edenoi and every movement of the enemies that they had encountered there dissected and pored over by Dana Mitchell as well as the trio of handlers that served as the Ranger's mission control, beyond the matter of Acinonyx Cato and what had been done to her there was the issue of a new and specialised type of Putty being deployed, something which was seemingly becoming a worrisome trend of the Vanguard Fleet. Concluding the debriefing had offered little respite as the five teens had then been subject to a series of medical checks at the hands of Doctor Kat Manx that had seemed even more excessively thorough than her usual test battery, ostensibly the extra scrutiny was due to the facts that the Rangers had been on the surface of another planet outside of their morphed states and had received medical treatment from individuals whose qualifications she was unsure of; privately however Mercy couldn't help but think that it might just be some form of punishment for the Rangers earlier defiance. Eventually however when the sun had long since set they had been allowed to go and granted leave the following day to recuperate; Panthera had stated that she needed some time alone and had promptly left the Aquabase, Mercy had no idea where the Pink Ranger was but knew that she was carrying her communicator and thus was largely unconcerned. Tempestus had stated that he needed to speak with his parents, or the elders of his home city, or perhaps Delphine the White Aquitian Ranger; simply put the idea of being party to a mutiny against Project Lightspeed had shaken him to his core, such things were simply not done on Aquitar and despite his friends' best efforts to console him and assure him that it was the right choice to make it seemed that the Blue Ranger would not be satisfied until he was absolved by a member of his own people. Rensa had stated that he needed some air, Edenoi had been insufferably warm to him and its' air barely breathable in its' intolerable closeness; Mercy was almost certain that he would be lurking in or around the Aquabase somewhere, wandering through hallways and using his natural talent for climbing to scuttle along walls and ceilings and almost certainly frighten any unsuspecting members of staff that he came across.
Mercy and Aslaug had found themselves alone in their living quarters save for Klo who was curled and growling faintly in his sleep close by; the Red Ranger gave a small but contented smile, they were both utterly exhausted both physically and mentally and had suffered injuries but she had finally managed to get some time alone with Aslaug, even it was a far cry from the date that she had trying to pluck up the courage to ask the taller girl out on.
Aslaug let out a small hiss of discomfort as Mercy shifted her weight
"Oh my God I'm sorry!" she gasped turning around so that they were facing each other "Are you okay?"
"Still tender from the lasers" Aslaug admitted, looking away quickly "You were hurt worse-"
"I went to see a doctor….well I was carried to one" Mercy countered "I didn't try and tough it out….you know you've got nothing to prove right?"
"As if I could ever hope to compete with your bravery" Aslaug chuckled softly "Preparing to lead a rebellion to keep Panthera's sister safe….that was impressive"
"Hey, you were there as well"
"Following your lead" Aslaug answered simply, Mercy swallowed and realised how dry her mouth suddenly felt; the taller woman was leaned back against the arm of the sofa far enough to almost be laying down and as she had turned to face her Mercy had positioned herself almost directly over her, looking down at piercing icy blue eyes made all the more striking by the pitch black tattoos around them and the dusty, dirty blonde hair that had been let down which fell over part of her face.
They remained silent for a moment as something unspoken passed between them, Mercy was honest enough with herself to know that she greatly wanted to lean down and kiss Aslaug, to feel those powerful arms holding her but she couldn't quite muster up the fortitude to make the first move; instead she simply lowered herself gently down onto the Yellow Ranger, taking care not to cause her any more discomfort and simply nuzzled into her whilst Aslaug pulled the blanket that they shared a little tighter around them both.
The Beetleborgs were naturally forgotten as the two of them promptly fell asleep wrapped around each other.
Authors Notes:
MERRY CHRISTMAS
And there's arc number five done.
Arc 06 is gonna be an important one, rounding off the entire first act of the story and changing the established dynamic of things.
That being said I think I'm gonna take a week off to plan ahead and genuinely take a breather, between this story and my RWBY story FADE: Legacy I don't think I've actually taken a break since March.
So I suppose it's only fair I give you a little something of a spoiler to keep you guessing, so here it is….Arc 06 will be titled "Dark Green"
On an unrelated note I've seen the leaks for Kirameiger, the suits look interesting if a little bit plain; they've definitely got some elements that I like; and oddly enough the shape of the Yellow Ranger's visor, angular with a dip is pretty much the exact shape that I imagined Aslaug's visor to be.
But anyway let's summarise:
Build's bike is pretty cool….it'd just be cooler as a jet-bike is all.
Well, it was….I'm sorry ma'am but we ran over your cat.
The two cat-girls are fighting near the edge of a gorge/cliff….there's a Lion King joke here.
I'm sure plenty of you figured out roughly what Panthera was trying when she let Acinonyx take her over the edge.
Acinonyx lacks Panthera's graceful landings because three of her five limbs have been replaced with robotic parts that were kinda crudely grafted on and her muscles are having spasms with the amount of power being put through them.
No more Morphing Grid access and the rest of the helmet that Paradoxa was using to track her movements just got forcefully removed, so whatever happens to Acinonyx from here on out she's at least free of the Dark Empire.
Tempestus is right, that is exactly the sort of trick that the Dark Empire would use and it is indeed "Grody to the max"
I told you at the start of the volume that Panthera had been contacting the Smugglers' Guild and she had Mercy get in touch with someone for her; I kinda made it obvious.
The captain is basically a four armed frog-man….who's got a peg leg and an eye patch, because of course.
The Majesty….I gave very serious consideration to calling it the Marvellous and going for a Sentai Reference.
The Grenade Switcheroo, I might have Panthera use a few more tricks like that as and when the story calls for it.
And the list of unofficial and private entities fighting the Dark Empire continues to expand….fighting another army is bad enough, when Privateers and Mercenaries start getting involved it's just annoying.
Lord Zedd just being needlessly extra, he may as well buy a cat and say "I'll get you next time Gadget" especially considering that Paradoxa already knows what he looks like….well, what his armour looks like at least.
Lord Zedd is also not stupid, because villains with the intellect of a 90s kids shown antagonist are no fun to write; he looked at the data and immediately knew "Oh right, the Rangers were involved" didn't even need to see footage.
And this is why ruling by fear doesn't work, you're underlings are scared that you'll gut them on the spot for asking questions that are actually sensible.
Of course he knows Tommy by name, the Green Ranger's skull takes pride place directly opposite Ninjor's.
Project Crucible was involved in creating Rangers, but not things like the Morphers…..get it now?
Acinonyx wasn't an experiment because she could use the Morphing Grid, she was an experiment because she could do it after being mutated with Acheron genetics….get it now?
Kimberley and Justin were discussing "Should we tell her?"….get it now?
Lord Zedd had a Zord and Rita had a Power coin, plus all the various instances of fake Rangers over the years but at no point did Lord Zedd ever try and Morph, now we know why, none of his species have ever been able to despite their ability to interbreed with every other species….Lightspeed just handed a missing piece of the puzzle over.
The Rangers are racking up some scars at a concerning rate.
Mercy and Aslaug just casually getting closer is fun to write.
I left the door open to more team-ups later on.
Of course Ghost knows, or at the very least strongly suspects.
Panthera just said fuck it, cards on the table.
And here we have what we in the business call an "I am Spartacus" moment.
But yeah the only member of mission control who can actually judge the Rangers on this is Justin and he wasn't there; it's literally 'Brother was an evil Ranger' 'Dated an evil Ranger' 'Was literally the villain'.
Obviously the Smugglers' Guild removed all the claws, blades and hidden weapons on her person, just for their own safety.
And no, it's not gonna as simple as "We got the helmet off so it's over" Acinonyx is a mess of trauma, mental illnesses and straight up brain damage at this point.
Would it be weird if those were Acinonyx's old blankets? The crew of the ship seem to be doing everything they can to trigger memories of her old self.
So in my head the green-skinned alien with the snake tail is a member of the same species as Thespiasaur, who had a the dubious honour of being killed by Elgar in the third Arc….just because both of them look like Double Trouble from She-Ra in my head.
The name Honnari comes from a Japanese demon with a serpentine body.
Also, yes she and Acinonyx are clearly very important to each other and without sounding too much like J.K Rowling, I'll let you read into that what you want.
That message from Panthera was hard to write, she definitely blames herself for Acinonyx
Smuggling in Alliance space is probably a bad idea, and the Claw was the ship that Panthera had in the first Arc, it was destroyed on Phaedos when the Rangers morphed for the first time.
I had to end that scene on a hopeful note, it wouldn't be worth writing if I didn't.
Yes, that is exactly what you think it is, I made the Beetleborgs at least semi-canon to this timeline; they exist as a show and are rumoured to have been real at some point, which means one could turn up at some point.
Aslaug's right though, the Beetleborgs are just utterly insane as a concept.
Panthera took off to record that message.
Yeah, Tempestus is kinda a follower and standing up to authority like that for him is weird.
Let's be real, Rensa is the baby of the Aegis Rangers….but he's still creepy as hell.
These two are absolute dorks in the most adorable and wholesome way….but if you want that first kiss you've gotta work and suffer for it.
No reviews on the last chapter.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.