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I am making no money from this.
Chapter 25 – I Will Win
The lighting in the Command Centre was kept dimmed in an effort to conserve what power the back up supplies could provide, creating a heavy an oppressive atmosphere in Justin's workspace that was only added to by the silence between those present, which in turn was left all the more intense by the absence of the ambient sounds of Justin's countless machines and experiments filling the air.
Kimberley, Justin and Zebidiah Lord were gathered around Justin's main computer sharing meaningful looks; each seeming to will the others to speak first as they stared at the documents before them until finally Justin broke the silence
"We're telling her. We're telling all of the Rangers everything" his voice was shaky even as he squared his shoulders and set his jaw; appearing resolute despite his concerns
"Agreed" Zebidiah nodded solemnly, pushing his robes away from his face to reveal the haggard weariness lining it in the wake of the vast effort that holding the sea at bay had been.
"Dana hasn't cleared them for this….it's beyond classified" Kimberley noted, before shaking her head as she realised exactly what she was saying "But I agree, we should have told them the moment the Green Ranger appeared"
"Tell us what?" the Ranger's presence was announced by the sound of Mercy's voice, words delivered through clenched teeth and with an audible wince. Justin, Kimberley and Zebidiah turned as one and took in the sight of their charges; all of them were bruised and exhausted though the Red Ranger herself was clearly in the worst shape, leaning against Aslaug for support and wearing a loose fitting tank-top which left part of the bandages wrapped around her torso visible, her injury wasn't life threatening but would be yet another scar added to her slowly expanding collection.
"Should you be up and about?" Justin asked gently
"Doctor Manx has more important patients and she needs the beds" Mercy countered with a one-sided shrug
"You're stalling. Tell us what?" Panthera hissed with open distrust out and out of the trio of adults acting as mentors to the Aegis Rangers Kimberley was the first to give her successor an understanding and sympathetic look, knowing from experience how the Pink Ranger felt.
"In due time" Zebidiah stated bluntly before nodding to a collection of empty seats "Though I suggest you sit" the Rangers remained standing.
"First thing's first" Justin sighed "You're gonna be stationed here until the Green Ranger situation is resolved but then you're shipping out to a new base"
"Understandable" Tempestus murmured
"Yeah" the former Turbo Ranger nodded "Dana is busy organising the relocation efforts at the moment, most of the cadets are being shipped out to Silver Hills and Reefside, some of Zebidiah's students are being sent to Briarwood….The Aquabase is gonna take years to rebuild, we can't run operations from here with it so heavily damaged; we're having to send the Aegis Zords to one of the colony ships for repairs so that's most likely where you'll end up"
"I….Understood" Mercy nodded, the Aquabase had been her home for as long as she could remember and though she knew that there was nothing that could be done that knowledge did nothing to stop her eyes from beginning to sting and a lump forming in her throat, something important had been taken from her and she was simply not ready to let it go.
"As for the matter regarding the Green Ranger" Zebidiah began, leaving the Rangers deeply concerned with the fact the normally stoic sorcerer appeared to be unsettled "You may have seen their face, you know who they are but not what they are"
"But you do" Mercy surmised, gasping as she realised that something was unspeakably wrong with the situation in a way she couldn't yet articulate "You know why they keep calling me their cousin?"
"I do" Zebidiah nodded "It stems from what Strike-Squad Alpha stole when they went rogue, something named Project Crucible….The people of Acheron have never been able to produce warriors capable of using the Power of the Morphing Grid despite our ability to splice our genetics with any species we encounter; with my experiments and research into the conundrum during my previous life I had gathered enough knowledge to create the perfect the Ranger candidate for Project Lightspeed, gene splicing the genetics of several previous human Rangers and boiling them down to their purest essence….It would seem that my second born son has used my work to solve the millennia old problem and create a human Acheron hybrid capable of becoming a Power Ranger"
"You're sure of this?" Panthera breathed out, utterly stunned
"We recovered a blood sample" Zebidiah nodded "I would know those Acheron genetic markers anywhere….they are of my own bloodline, the Green Ranger who you know as Kay is my grandchild"
"But wait" Mercy's deep brown eyes were wide in horror as the realisation came to her "If Kay is artificially made to be a Ranger and they call me cousin then"
"We always planned to tell you, but never like this" Justin croaked out, tears beginning to well up in his own eyes. The Aegis Rangers glanced from the senior officers before them to mercy and saw that the Red Ranger's hands were trembling
"The story you were told about your parents being killed in an alien attack was a lie" Kimberley admitted, not daring to raise her voice above a whisper as if it would somehow lessen the blow "A cover story had to put in place….Mercy you were the end result of Project Crucible, you were made to be-"
"No" Mercy cried, tears spilling from her eyes as her world came crashing down around her with the revelation that everything she had known about herself was a lie "No, I'm nothing like them; I'm not-I can't be!" there was a single moment where her fellow Rangers could see the maelstrom of conflicting emotions in her eyes and Aslaug reached out to comfort her but by the time her arm had begun to move it was too late, Mercy had simply turned and run; desperate to be as far away from the waking nightmare she had found herself in as possible.
"I'm going after her" Aslaug stated bluntly, treating Kimberley, Zebidiah and Justin to a look of utter disgust and contempt before leaving the Command Centre.
"What about the rest of us?" Rensa asked, his usually quiet and gentle voice dropping even further in volume until it was nothing but the ghost of a whisper, each word dripping with fear
"Were the rest of us made to be Rangers….was I sent to a prison world in the Dark Empire just to be toughened up and found later?"
"No" Zebidiah assured him "Shortly after Mercy was….born I suppose is accurate William Mitchell died and Dana took his place, she found Project Crucible to be distasteful and had it halted. Mercy is….or rather was the only one of her kind" Panthera let out a mocking cackle as she turned on her heel and stalked away
"Oh don't worry Lord Zedd" she let the insult of using his former title linger for a moment before adding "We've met you're Grandchild….I can assure you that Mercy is still the only one of her kind"
Kay had put their plan into motion.
It had been a hard decision to make, in truth the hardest choice the Green Ranger had ever made in their short life; weighing each aspect of Lord Zedd and the Dark Empire's goals against their own experiences on Earth along with their own personal thoughts and beliefs and what they slowly realised was their own developing character and identity. It became increasingly clear that the goals for which they had been made and who they were as a person were entirely incompatible with one another and that Kay would have no choice but to act.
The first step had been destroying the stasis pod that had brought them to Earth in its' entirety.
The second step would be a difficult one but the Green Ranger knew it could not be avoided; the Aegis Rangers had seen their face and now it would only be a matter of time before Earth and the Alliance as a whole turned against them. Kay knew that Piggy had contacts and friends on worlds outside of the Alliance and intended to ask the kind-hearted alien for safe passage off of the planet; the advantage of this was that it would allow them to continue exploring the galaxy and see and experience countless new things, with the obvious downside being that they would almost certainly never see anyone that they had met on Earth again, including Piggy and his former wards Jack and Z or the Aegis Rangers.
Kay came to a brief halt at the sound of an odd sniffling sound escaping them, a sensation that they had never encountered before but understood themselves well enough to know that it was more than the product of some mere sickness that had befallen them.
As they made their way through the streets of the 'New-Tech' District of Mariner Bay with a misty drizzle falling upon them Kay tried to focus their attention away from their various injuries which even their accelerated and inhuman healing had failed to mend entirely, they were almost certain that they had several fractured bones but could do nothing to solve the problem and the wound in their chest left by the broken shard of the Red Ranger's katana may have stopped bleeding but it still throbbed and sent waves of pain through their body with each breath they took, their clothes were still sodden and they found themselves shivering as they limped closet to their destination.
As they went Kay saw few pedestrians despite this part of the city being usually bustling with activity at all times and those few citizens he saw, comprised of various different species all wore fearful expressions which the Green Ranger was saddened to realise were not simply the product of the recent attacks that they had committed as the Green Ranger but were in fact directed at their current bloody and bedraggled state.
Eventually Kay reached Ernie's Juice Bar and mercifully found it to be open for business to some degree or another, the crowding and presence of sleeping bags indicating that it had been used as a shelter once again.
"We're full at the moment but if you head over to-" Piggy came to a halt, the rough scaly plates around his face flattening in a gesture of utter shock "Kay?"
Piggy had hurried from behind the bar and closed the distance between them faster than the Green Ranger could think of anything to say; he grasped them as gently as he could and began examining their various injuries whilst making several soothing sounds mixed with alarmed exclamations
"I got lost in the Aquabase" Kay murmured, realising that they had to say something and loathing the fact that it had to be a lie "When it was attacked I couldn't find Jack and Z or their friends….I didn't make it out with the rest of the evacuation"
"Well you're here and that's what counts" Piggy countered, eyes darting away from them as he spoke
"Actually….there's something I wanted to ask you" Kay screwed their unnatural pink and black eyes shut and took a moment to compose themselves before asking "Would you be able to get me on a ship away from Earth?….with everything that's happened I think I just need to be somewhere else, away from everything; that might have been what made me think joining Lightspeed was a good idea"
"I understand" Piggy nodded slowly as they croaked the words out, standing back they took a moment to simply stare at Kay before sighing and pointing to one of the few tables left in place "Go wait over there, I'll see if I can arrange something for you on short notice….I'll grab some clothes for you out of Jack's closet" Kay watched Piggy vanish out of view as he returned behind the bar and then into areas of the building not open to customers before turning and making their way over to the seat that had been offered to them; simply being able to collapse into the seat and not worry about dragging themselves any further was a welcome relief and Kay almost immediately felt their bone deep weariness begin to take over and their eyelids get heavier
"Do you work for Project Lightspeed?" Kay looked down and saw a small alien child which they presumed was a girl due to the outfit they wore, her skin was a pale blue-grey and her eyes were disproportionately large and oval shaped with no nose between them; she looked up expectantly at Kay and blinked with two different sets of eyelids whilst another alien Kay guessed was a parent of guardian tried to call her away
"Yesterday was my first day" they gave a weak grin, realising that their soaked and bloodstained uniform had given them away and piqued the child's curiosity rather than her fear
"Do you know the Power Rangers?" she asked hopefully
"I've met them" Kay nodded
"Awesome!" the alien girl gasped, her mannerisms so like those of her human counterparts that Kay assumed she must have been born on Earth.
"I wanna be a Power Ranger when I grow up" she continued "It's like the coolest job ever!"
"Even now?" Kay asked, having no desire to crush his chatty new acquaintances dreams but merely curious "It was a Power Ranger that attacked the Aquabase, fought with the other Rangers"
"And they're really dumb for doing that" the alien girl pouted, letting out an annoyed sigh as she placed her hands on her hips "I don't get why Rangers fight each other and don't want to be friends sometimes but they always fix things later on and they always win….that's what my teacher said anyway"
"Maybe your teacher was right" Kay chuckled, eyes darting to where their Morpher was currently hidden beneath a long sleeve; they had considered simply destroying the device or even giving it to the Aegis Rangers but had eventually decided against it for the simple reason that they were the Green Ranger and didn't know who they would be if they weren't, but this hopeful and exuberant child gave them a sliver of hope that maybe things could be different one day.
"Kay" hearing their name they looked up and instantly realised that something was very wrong. Piggy had returned to the bar and was flanked by Jack and Z who both wore hateful expressions whilst Sydney covered the exit to the bar and Bridge and Sky tried to usher the other patrons away from Kay.
"Go back to your mother, I need to talk with them" the Green Ranger instructed gently before rising to their feet
"Don't move" Jack ordered as he produced a laser pistol and levelled it at Kay's head
"We could have fixed this, we could have found a way" Piggy lamented "But you lied to me, you've been lying to me since day one….just let 'em bring you in quietly Kay, nobody has to get hurt" Kay nodded, almost as if agreeing
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt" the Green Ranger breathed out before locking eyes with Jack Landors, their vivid pink irises seeming to flare with light as deeply ingrained instincts etched into their very genetics rose to the forefront
"Tell Sydney to let everyone else out. Then I'll let you try to bring me in"
Aslaug had slowed her pace to a deliberately unhurried one as she followed after Mercy, intending to give the Red Ranger some time and space whilst also wanting to offer her help in whatever way she could.
Mercy had predictably bolted towards the living areas the Aegis Rangers shared and Aslaug the entrance to their home several minutes later; letting herself in and seeing Klo, the large wolf-like hunting beast she had brought from Mirinoi pacing and growling agitatedly
"Quiet boy" Aslaug urged softly before turning her attention towards the door to Mercy's room and seeing it open she stepped inside.
The sight that greeted her broke the Yellow Ranger's heart.
Posters had been ripped from walls and clothes had pulled from her closet though it was far from an organised effort to pack and if Aslaug concentrated long enough she was sure that could pinpoint the exact moment were Mercy had given up on frantically trying to gather everything she could and escape to anywhere other than her current predicament and had simply given up, the crack in the wall where she had struck it being a likely candidate.
Mercy herself was curled up in a corner of the room sobbing and Aslaug had made her way over to her without ever needing to think about it; lacing her fingers' through the Red Ranger's and bringing her bloodied knuckles up to her lips to kiss them gently as she sat beside her
"Just leave me alone" Mercy croaked out, wiping her eyes
"Is that what you really want?" Aslaug asked cautiously, having no desire to leave Mercy in this state but willing to respect her wishes
"I don't know" Mercy finally answered, choking back more tears "How can I know what I want, I don't even know who I am!"
"I don't understand" Aslaug admitted after a moment of heavy silence "I can understand that you were lied to and you are right to be angry at that but….is this knowledge of where you come from not just proof that you were destined-"
"I wasn't destined for anything. I was made in a lab!" Mercy snapped "Am I even a person? Am I just a weapon?"
"You've never been less than a person to me, a truly amazing one at that" Aslaug assured her, squeezing her hand a little tighter "I promise you that none of this changes the way I see you"
"Thank you" Mercy leaned into the taller woman, soaking her clothes with tear-stained cheeks
"I just….I've always wanted to be the hero, to save people ever since I was a kid and first learned what the Power Rangers were" Mercy paused to take a deep shuddering breath "I never thought I could ever be a Ranger but I still wanted to be that kind of person and now I don't how much of my life was really me; I was made to be a Ranger so how many of my choices were really mine?"
"I don't know" Aslaug shook her head "The Frost Claw Tribe, my people….we're more practical we don't have hours of debates about philosophy like your Star People and these questions are beyond me; you simply are who you are and the circumstances of your birth are irrelevant. What I do know is that you can choose"
"What do you mean?"
"If you think you've been manipulated and used then take off your Morpher and tell Lightspeed that their betrayals are too great to be forgiven-"
"I can't-"
"You can" Aslaug interrupted "And I would follow you and I would understand your decision but you won't…..because you were born to be a Red Ranger and a leader, but I don't think it was science or magic that decided that" Mercy slowly forced herself to pull back and meet Aslaug's gaze
"You'd come with me?" she asked shakily, as if she couldn't quite believe the words
"In a heartbeat" Aslaug nodded "I told you that where you lead, I follow. We wouldn't have to abandon the Alliance, we could make contact with Andros and his band of fighters, wage war against the Dark Empire on our own terms….or you could come with me to Mirinoi?"
The two stared at each other for a moment that seemed to stretch out for an eternity, Mercy's deep brown eyes boring into Aslaug's icy blue
Then Aslaug was almost knocked backwards by the force of Mercy colliding with her, her lips crashing against the taller girls', messy and uncoordinated as she clung onto her desperately; Aslaug's calloused hands cupped Mercy's cheeks gently as they two broke apart and gently rested her forehead against Mercy's, the two remained like that for a while, moving only to plant brief kisses against one another's lips; both of them knew that things had changed between them and that there would be no going back from this point and in light of the revelations that the day had already brought the knowledge left both of them more scared than they might have been otherwise, so both girls stayed silent, neither being willing to be the first to broach the obvious discussion about what happened next.
Then their communicators began to chirp in unison, the familiar tone bringing a scowl to Aslaug's face
"One day I will cast this accursed device into the sea" she growled and the comment was enough for Mercy, in her fragile emotional state to begin giggling uncontrollably, quickly muffling herself behind her hands as Aslaug answered
"The Green Ranger has been located, a group of cadets were the first on the scene" Kimberley's voice issued from the communicator "They don't have a chance on their own-"
"Understood" Aslaug interrupted
"Is Mercy with you?" the former Pink Ranger asked and Aslaug made no effort to answer, simply glancing up at Mercy who understood that she was being given the choice.
As if there was any other choice she could make
"I'm here" she answered, speaking loud enough for Kimberley to hear her and trying her best to sound confident and determined. Aslaug ended the communications and gave her a cautious look
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah" Mercy nodded as they both rose to their feet "You're right….whoever I am or was supposed to be, I'm still me. I'm still a Power Ranger"
"We're nearing our target Captain" one of the warships' bridge crew intoned, clearly trying to remain clinical and detached even as an admirable level of Acheron bloodlust brought a snarling edge to their words.
"Drop us out of warp, transmit orders to the fleet" Paradoxa declared, rising to her feet as she decided that breaking the back of the Alliance and sundering one of its' core worlds was not a task to be undertaken whilst lounging comfortably in a command throne that was not her own.
"Yes Lady Paradoxa" the bridge crew chorused, much to the seeming annoyance of the actual commander of the vessel who had been relegated to standing at Paradoxa's right hand.
Lord Zedd had instructed her to attack and rendezvous with the Green Ranger that he had sired and her orders would be followed but she was also far from foolish and did not intend to gamble her life, her resources or her standing and favour with Lord Zedd on the outcome of a single full scale assault and so the Heliothis had remained grounded on Unus whilst Paradoxa had assumed command of this vessel, named the 'Unrelenting' and took direct control of this operation, bring ten fully armed Empire battleships, each filled with Putties and countless other footsoldiers speeding towards Earth at faster than light speeds. As Paradoxa's order were followed the viewscreen spanning the entirety of the front of the command bridge showed a vast change in the appearance of reality outside of the ship, the field of pure unbroken white seemed to shatter and waves of darkness rushed in and filled the space until the stars appeared as pinpricks of distant light once more and the flashes of the rest of her attack force dropping out of warp lit the void for a fraction of a second at a time.
It became instantly clear that something was wrong.
"We have incoming! Energy signatures on all-" the member of the bridge crew attempting to scream a warning was silenced and promptly flung from their post by the first salvo of missiles, laser and plasma weapons that collided with the forcefields of the Empire ships and rocked the vessels with the their hastily absorbed force.
Paradoxa glared at the viewscreen after she had steadied herself and saw Earth in the distance, a gleaming jewel of a world in the void of space; its' lone moon illuminated by the lights of a ring of colony ships orbiting the planet and forming a defensive wall whilst countless ships swarmed around them; the more immediate problem was quickly brought into focus however, almost forty Alliance ships has used the more advanced and powerful teleportation systems at their disposal to encircle her forces and had opened fire without warning
"RETURN FIRE!" she demanded furiously as she watched one of her ships be torn asunder by a barrage of missiles which tore through its' command bridge.
"We're being hailed Lady Paradoxa"
"Audio only, continue the counter attack!" the insectoid warlord spat, taking her seat upon the throne at the centre of room once more so that she might seem regal and in control of the situation despite remaining unseen to her adversary
"This is Captain Paradoxa of the Vanguard Fleet" she declared with cold confidence "To whom am I speaking"
"This Commander Cruger of the Lightspeed Moonbase" a growling voice answered her "Stand down, surrender your vessels and prepare to be boarded….or prepare to be destroyed. And should that bastard Ivan Komarov be aboard one of your ships, tell him to prepare for a reckoning"
"You are certainly welcome to try" Paradoxa sneered before silencing the comm channel and focusing her attention on the tactical display of the battle occurring around her; her ships were being vastly overpowered and it was clear that this battle could only end one way
"Prepare to jump to warp" she ordered, forcing herself to remain calm and collected "Use the explosion of the next ship to fall to mask our departure" as she gave the order she quietly began using her own privileges as overall commander of the Vanguard Fleet to remotely enter a series of commands to all the ships in her attack force, ensuring that should any of them be boarded the computers and logs would be wiped and powerful nerve gasses would fill the interior of each vessel to ensure that no prisoners could be taken.
A moment later an explosion announced the destruction of a vessel named the Warmonger and the bridge crew of the Unrelenting sprung into action, bringing the vessel up to faster than light speeds in an instant; the vessel rocking and warnings being blared throughout as the burning debris of other ships struck its' hull.
Paradoxa had far more important concerns however.
Ivan Komarov had always insisted to her that the Lightspeed Aquabase located in the human city of Mariner Bay was where the Power Rangers would operate from and was by far the most important of Earths' military installations; at no point had the man eve mentioned a Moonbase and she now realised that he had most likely intended to hold that information over her head and use it at an opportune moment, a savvy move that Paradoxa could respect. Ivan was dead however and Paradoxa had no intention being the one to be executed for this abject failure of an attack so she desperately scrambled for a pawn she could offer up as a sacrifice to the fury of Lord Zedd.
A twisted smirk crossed her face as she realised that there was an obvious choice.
"Set course for Unus, multiple misdirections in case we're followed" she ordered silkily "We were promised that they would be unprepared, we were ambushed….Lord Zedd must be informed that his Green Ranger has betrayed him"
Even without Morphing and even in their injured state Kay was of an entirely different calibre of fighter to the cadets that had attempted to apprehend them, something that they readily proved with each exchange of blows.
Jack aimed his laser pistol, a side-arm he had recently been issued by Project Lightspeed at the half-human hybrid once again and fired yet even as his finger tightened around the trigger Kay leapt into the air and landed a spinning kick to his wrist, the bolt of light ripped through the air and seared a scorched and blackened hole into a wall as the weapon was sent flying from Jack's grasp; yet the young man was far from defenceless even when unarmed, he and Z had both spent years living on the streets before they had been found first by Piggy and then by Lightspeed and had done whatever they needed to in order to survive, including fighting in ways that were not taught or condoned by the silver guardians.
The moment Kay's feet returned to the ground Jack brought his forehead crashing into the bridge of their nose and sent them staggering backwards with a satisfying crunch; Kay almost reflexively lashed out with a right hook which left Jack seeing double as it connected with his cheek, yet he fought through the pain and sudden dizziness and used the momentum of the blow to carry himself into a low spinning sweep which knocked the Green Ranger's legs out from under them
"Z NOW!" Elizabeth Delgado in an even greater example of winning by whatever means were necessary rushed into the fray brandishing a particularly sharp steak knife which had been intended to cut some of he tougher alien dishes Piggy served.
Kay scrambled back to their feet and attempted to parry the blow, letting out a pained cry as the blade pierced through the palm of their left hand and out of the back. Z was caught off guard by the turn of events and couldn't react fast enough to stop Kay from forcing their hand along the remainder of the blade and seizing her fist, breaking her wrist before kicking her aside with enough force to send her crashing into the bar where she remained in a motionless crumpled heap
"Z!" Jack let out a roar of pure, unfettered rage as he charged at Kay and attempted to tackle them; in an impressive display of acrobatics Kay responded by somersaulting over Jack mid-lunge and landing a two-footed kick between his shoulder-blades. The Dark skinned young man hit the floor with a disturbing wet snapping sound as at least one of his ribs was broken yet Kay had no chance to savour the minor victory or even catch their breath.
Sydney's punch to the Green Ranger's face came completely unannounced and sent them reeling, as their vision stopped swimming they caught sight of a green light of a different shade to their own energy attacks and realised a moment too late that it was in fact Bridge Carson manifesting his arcane abilities; a blast of powerful but unfocused magical power struck Kay in the chest and where it could have crushed them like oceanic pressures or torn a hole through them instead they were merely flung backwards, into a several cheap metallic tables and chairs lining a wall which were twisted and bent by the collision.
"Stay down Kay" Carson warned, Jack and Z had given Kay an image of their squad-mate that painted him as somewhat lax and bumbling; that individual was entirely absent however and had been replaced by a fierce fighter whose fists crackled with magic even now.
"I can't do that" Kay sighed sadly as they dragged themselves free of the debris and back to their feet, their previous sorry state only worsened by the blood dripping from their lip even as it healed rapidly in front of their opponents' faces, their nose had ceased bleeding but was still swollen and discoloured, leaving bruises around their eyes and as they looked down at their hand they saw that it was still bleeding profusely; a condition that halted a few moments after the ripped the knife free of it with a hiss of pain.
Jack and Z were removed from the equation, but Bridge and Syd were more challenging opponents; Kay had a knife now, but Sky was entirely unaccounted for.
These were not the worst odds that the Green Ranger had faced.
The three of them charged towards each other in the same moment, Kay thrust the blade in their hand toward Bridge's shoulder, intending to disable rather than kill; the cadet placed their palms on either side of the knife before it could reach him and waves of concussive force simply warped and bent it out of shape; the now useless weapon fell from Kay's hand as the fingers of their right hand were cracked and fractured by the violent tremors.
Refusing to be beaten the Green Ranger used Bridge's preoccupation with taking the knife to pivot at the waist and drive their elbow into the cadets' temple, leavinghim collapsing to the floor unconscious. Kay followed the motion into a spin and used their elbow to block another of Sydney's absurdly powerful punches whilst standing at an angle to her before delivering a back-kick into the inside of her knee; following up with a spinning heel kick to the head as she fell.
Their sense of victory was short lived as it was undercut by the sound of weapon being cocked back.
"Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head" Sky barked, Kay simply turned to face him and saw that the sole remaining member of Jack and Z's squad stood beside Piggy who had evidently provided the young man access to some of the more illicit good being stored in his basement; an alien firearm arranged like a rifle with twin rods in place of a barrel that emitted a low whine as arcs of energy coalesced between them, some form of compact rail-gun for sale on the black market.
"You too Piggy?" Kay fought to keep the hurt out of their tone, understanding that by the laws and code of honour he followed Piggy was doing the right thing and whatever limited understanding of fairness the Green Ranger had gave them no real reason to expect a different outcome.
"I said get on the floor" Sky repeated icily and Kay could tell with the distant and detached look in his eyes that he would certainly fire if given any provocation.
Kay sunk to their knees and placed their hands behind their head and Sky lowered his weapon a fraction, realising that with Jack, Z, Bridge and Syd all unconscious there was nobody all to restrain their target. He transferred his weapon into Piggy's hands and quickly produced a pair of handcuffs and in doing so utterly failed to notice that Kay had rolled down one of his sleeves to reveal his Morpher.
"My Father was a Power Ranger and you're an insult to everything he stood for" Sky growled as he stalked towards them "I'm gonna make sure you never see the light of day again"
"I'm sorry Sky, I really am"
"You think that makes a difference-"
"I'm sorry that this victory meant so much to you and you won't get to savour it" the two locked eyes and Sky realised with utter terror what was about to happen
"Dragonzord!" a flash of forest green light filled the air and Sky flung himself backwards at the same time that Piggy fired the weapon in his hands; the recoil was enough for the bartended to drop it and the Green Ranger easily sidestepped the incoming attack which blasted a hole in the wall behind them, the pain and weariness that had been fogging their senses and weighting down their limbs instantly abating.
"All I wanted" they snarled, their voice distorted by their helmet "Was to leave"
Kay was unsure of what would happen next, they had never considered events happening the way they had yet the matter was rendered moot by five streams of blinding multicoloured light bursting into existence in the space between the Green Ranger and Piggy and Sky; before the teleport streams could even fully dissipate and the newcomers identities be revealed a weapon was hurled towards the Green Ranger, a pair of curved blades joined at their handles which Kay instantly recognised. They managed to avoid the attack which had likely been aimed simply to stun and the spinning blade returned to Panthera's hand as the Aegis Rangers appeared in the epicentre of the disturbance.
"Piggy run" the Pink Ranger ordered calmly
"Sky, get your team to safety" Tempestus added "We have the situation under control" Kay offered no scathing or mocking retorts, truly they were tired and had no desire to carry this battle on any longer. The Green Ranger stared at Mercy yet even with her face obscured by her own helmet they could see that the Red Ranger would offer no respite.
"Let's not do this cousin" Kay sighed, disabled the distortion of their voice with a thought so that they could speak to one another properly, there were a few moments of heavy silence before Mercy answered with a sense of finality
"I don't have any cousins"
The tension in Justin's workspace was palpable and the atmosphere between Justin, Kimberley and Zebidiah felt charged as though a thunderstorm might be imminent as they waited for any contact from the Aegis Rangers after being forced to deploy them almost blindly.
The silence was shattered and the tension was momentarily broken like snapping guitar strings as Vice Admiral Dana Mitchell stormed into the Command Centre, eyes blazing and hands clenched into white knuckled fists
"What in God's name is happening out there?" she demanded "I had reports of another attack-"
"Some of our cadets encountered the Green Ranger trying to solicit a way off of the planet, they visited a bar in the New Tech District" Kimberley explained "They managed to hold the line until we could deploy the Rangers"
"Do we have visual?"
"Negative" Justin shook his head "There's no cameras to use so we had to use the GPS of the cadets phones to approximate a drop zone to teleport the Rangers into….we only have their helmet feeds and fighting that fast, in an enclosed area-"
"Damn it!" Dana snapped
"Justin can deploy you and I" Zebidiah offered "You're aware of who and what the Green Ranger is….perhaps I could reason with them; if that doesn't work the Titanium Ranger would certainly-"
"No" Dana shook her head, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as if to steady herself; when her eyes opened again they seemed different in some hard to define way, colder and more distant.
"Justin, pull the Rangers out"
"What?" the question was gasped and exclaimed by all present yet the former Lightspeed Pink Ranger remained unflinching
"Dark Empire ships dropped out of warp in system" Dana explained, those words alone enough to silence any further outbursts "The Moonbase detected them from light years away and the threat has been neutralised….but we don't have functioning Zords, we can't take any more chances"
"Dana what are you doing?" Kimberley demanded in utter disbelief, the steel in her superior officers' voice disturbing her on a deep, primal level
"I have clearance to order an air-strike" Dana said simply "Pull the Rangers out. The Green Ranger has to be neutralised by any means-"
"Not any means" Kimberley shook her head "Not like this"
"You're gonna kill civilians" Justin breathed out "They're in the city! there's no way that carpet bombing the place thoroughly enough to take out a Ranger won't-"
"The Green Ranger already had killed civilians" Dana spat coldly "They will continue to do so unless and until they are stopped. This is war and the hard decisions must be made….pull the Rangers out"
"Ignore that order" Kimberley matched Dana's icy tone and the former Turbo Ranger made no effort to move or act upon the command.
"Are you sure you want to do this Captain?" Dana demanded "You're going to risk innocent lives to save an enemy combatant?" Kimberley gave no response to the specific question
"I'm relieving you of your duties and assuming direct control of this operation until further notice due to a lack of confidence in your ability to command. Stand down Dana"
The Lightspeed Rangers' hand flew to the Titanium Morpher on her wrist in an instant yet she never managed to activate it; instead she found herself frozen in place by some unseen force which weighed on her body, soon after she felt her feet leave the floor as she was hoisted into the air and rotated to face Zebidiah who stood with a hand outstretched and his robes billowing in some wind that affected him alone
"I can't let you do that I'm afraid"
"This is sedition" Dana snarled through clenched teeth as even speaking took monumental effort. Zebidiah stepped forwards, upholding his magical restraints as he removed the Titanium Morpher from her wrist
"Hardly the worst thing I've been accused of"
"Take her to the brig, or somewhere secure" Kimberley murmured, still not entirely willing to believe that the situation had come to this; Zebidiah silently nodded and did as he was asked, leaving Justin's workspace and levitating the Vice Admiral along with him.
"Did we just do the right thing?" Justin asked uncertainly, voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes" Kimberley nodded with utmost sincerity "Escalation, civilian casualties….I'm a Power Ranger first and an officer second. I can't follow those orders as a Power Ranger" Justin nodded silently, finding himself agreeing entirely but also unsure of exactly what would happen next.
Each blow sounded like a thunderclap as the Rangers fought.
"Panthera, Panthera stop!" the Green Ranger urged even as they moved at speeds that made it appear as though they were in several places at once whilst using the glowing edge of the Dragon Blade to parry the Pink Ranger's onslaught. Panthera fought like a woman possessed, leaping and darting around the room as unleashed a maelstrom of slashes from her twin curved blades with countless kicks, knees and elbow strikes interspersed between them; the attacks came from all angles and were ferocious enough that her friends were forced to halt their own attacks lest they be caught in the crossfire.
"Stop?" her voice was nearly a scream as she batted Kay's gladius away with a spinning back-handed slash before unleashing her follow up right and scoring a deep groove into their visor as they attempted to avoid it
"You used me!" she raged, pouncing like a savage predator and kicking them square in the chest before unleashing another stream of rapidly blocked attacks "You used me to come into our home and attack us!" green and pink sparks sprayed outwards as her blades dragged across the shield covering the Green Ranger's chest.
"Then you're leaving me no choice" Kay answered, voice seeming to waver before they back flipped over a slash aimed at their midsection and sent the Pink Ranger reeling backwards as their foot connected with her chin, they landed in a crouch and launched themselves forwards without hesitation and flipped their sword in their hand before bringing the pommel of the weapon crashing against the visor of Panthera's helmet, shattering it and leaving the Pink Ranger staggering back and unable to defend herself as Kay followed up with a spinning heel kick to the chest that sent her flying backwards and crashing into a wall.
Tempestus and Rensa leapt into the fray without hesitation, the Blue Ranger using his staff to keep the Dragon Blade at bay whilst the Black Ranger attacked from the side. Kay was not so easily overwhelmed however and their free hand lashed out faster than the eye could see to wrap around Rensa's throat as the Black Ranger leapt at them; Kay threw him aside before using a burst of power to force the Dragon Blade downwards and sever Tempestus's staff cleanly in half before leaping up and driving their knee into the Blue Ranger's skull as he staggered forwards.
They were under attack again before their feet hand returned to the ground.
Once again proving herself faster than one would expect of someone her size Aslaug had rushed out and seized the Green Ranger whilst they were in mid air and promptly hurled them across the juice bar; Kay landed in a crouch and thrust their sword downwards to bring themselves to a stop as they slid along the smooth floor.
A scarlet blur of motion was the only warning Kay received before Mercy fell upon them.
"I don't want to fight!" the Green Ranger snarled through gritted teeth as they struggled to keep pace with the Red Ranger's attacks
"Really!" Mercy demanded as her katana ripped through the place Kay had occupied "Everything you've done says different!" she continued with her attacks and gave no ground or quarter; their blades clashed in explosions of sparks and flashes of light until eventually Kay managed to bring her to a halt
"I know what you are" Mercy hissed as the two of them grappled and sought to overpower one another
"What we are" Kay corrected
"I am nothing like you! I'm a Power Ranger, you're just the Empire's weapon" Mercy insisted, forcing Kay back a step only for the Green Ranger to redouble their efforts and lean closer, looming over her
"Not so different after all" the words were enough to make Mercy falter, a mistake she paid for as Kay broke free of their tangled attempt to force each other back and simply dropped to one knee whilst driving their palm into the ground; the entire building shook and floor cratered as an Aura of green light which engulfed their palm flashed outwards into a shock-wave of light and concussive force which flung her away.
As Mercy leapt to her feet she watched Aslaug storm into the fray and felt her blood run cold as the Yellow Ranger swung her axe, only for the Green Ranger to outmanoeuvre her this time. Expecting the blow Kay rushed forwards and into Aslaug's guard, driving their shoulder into her chest and seized her axe in both hands they used her own momentum to send her crashing to the ground and placed a foot on her neck as she tried to rise.
Panthera's weapons tore through the air as the Pink Ranger prepared to rush into the fray once more only to be batted aside by the Green Ranger's own blade and as Mercy leapt to her feet Kay pointed the Dragon Blade down at Aslaug's skull even as the Yellow Ranger struggled.
"Everyone stand down!" Mercy called out, not daring to move an inch. Tempestus and Panthera shifted their weight nervously whilst Rensa skulked behind the Green Ranger with his knives at the ready but the Red Ranger was not willing to risk failure.
Not where Aslaug was concerned
"Lord Zedd has ships heading towards Earth" Kay panted out "I was instructed to join Paradoxa and her fleet. I refused….I was looking for a way off world to go somewhere else, anywhere else"
"I don't believe you" Mercy answered, her katana wavering in her hand as she desperately sought a way out of her current predicament
"I don't want to see Earth fall to Lord Zedd's Empire….what would be the point? I've never seen anything beyond this city; it's the only place I've ever known….Why would I want the galaxy to be enslaved when I haven't seen any of it?" the Green Ranger's voice cracked as their frayed emotions finally began to get the better of them "This is all I know how to do and I don't want to do it any more!"
"Then put the sword down Kay" Panthera croaked out, amber eyes shining in the light and visible through her broken visor
"We are what we are" Mercy added, voice thick with emotion as she dared to hope "It's what we do with the gift of life that's important"
"If I lower my weapon you'll kill me" Kay answered, their exhaustion giving way to the first hints of true fear and utter loss of direction
"Let Aslaug go and surrender" Mercy urged, not daring to raise her voice "I promised that I wouldn't kill you unless you gave me no other choice….so give me another choice, I don't want to be a killer"
Seconds seemed to last an eternity and Kay's ragged breathing was the only sound to fill the ruined remains of the Juice Bar until in a flash of green light the Dragon Blade vanished. Mercy waited with baited breath, terror clenching her heart as she waited for the seemingly inevitable betrayal and for Kay to unleash a stream of energy that would atomise the Yellow Ranger.
Instead they took a single step back and in a motion that was both anticlimactic yet somehow the greatest resolution that Mercy could have hoped for the Green Ranger de-morphed, their armour being reduced to countless glowing and incandescent fragments which swirled around them.
Kay themselves fixed Mercy with a look that was both apprehensive and grateful before their fatigue and injuries finally drained the last of their stamina; Panthera de-morphed and caught them as they collapsed forwards and Mercy quickly pulled Aslaug to her feet whilst Tempestus and Rensa drew close, even in their silence their shock at the turn of events was plain to see.
"Mercy to mission control" the Red Ranger whispered opening a comm channel "We have the Green Ranger….we're bringing them in alive"
Authors Notes:
So the penultimate chapter of not just this arc but the entire first act of the story.
Obviously the fallout of the last chapter and this chapter completely changes the paradigm of the story so the final chapter will be wrapping up some loose ends and setting the stage for what comes next, establishing what the 'new normal' is going to be and things of that nature.
But anyway let's summarise shall we:
Justin has been the one consistently saying to tell Mercy about Project Crucible since Strike-Squad Alpha attempted to steal it; I'm sure you can figure out why.
Being slashed along the side of the chest with a katana is, to quote the Black Knight "A flesh wound".
Panthera is tolerating no bullshit today.
So that's gonna be the first difference between the first and second act; new base….the Aquabase got wrecked, on top of the damage done to the Zords they need to relocate to be effective.
Silver Hills, Reefside, Briarwood….References.
The 'Cousin' thing is obviously bothering Mercy; mainly because it's clearly aimed at her specifically, none of the other Rangers were called it.
And there's the real I've been holding onto; Mercy and Kay were made the same way with the only difference being that Kay has Lord Zedd's DNA along with a collection of human/previous Power Ranger samples; I've been dropping hints with comments about Mercy being "The best we could make".
Just 100% confirming it, I didn't steal the Warhammer 40k storyline of the Primarchs being sent to various death-worlds to be reunited later on.
Also Crucible was William Mitchell's project, Dana scrapped it….I'm sorry but the man tried to replace the Lightspeed Rangers with robot clones and built a Morpher that needed a more than human physiology to be used, this is exactly the sort of stunt he'd pull.
Oh Panthera is pissed.
Kay is finally dissatisfied enough with Lord Zedd to act and jump ship.
'An odd sniffling sound' everything is new to them, they've never cried before.
Kay's rapid healing has limits, just so they're not entirely unstoppable.
Okay I know the whole scene with the alien girl was cliché and probably a little cheesy but honestly I wanted Kay to have a genuine interaction with somebody that he didn't have to lie to or wasn't fighting against before the end of the arc.
"They were the Green Ranger and didn't know who they would be if they weren't" and there's what Kay is going to have to develop and grow beyond; they currently don't have any sense of identity out of what was given to them.
The SPD Rangers really think they're the protagonists here….
Well, now Kay has got some company for that identity crisis.
Aslaug's point of view is kind of an understandable one for someone looking in at the situation from the outside to have; the question is "Was Mercy born to be a Ranger because of Project Crucible, was it destiny or just who she is as a person" Aslaug is of the opinion "Does it make any practical difference? You are who you are".
"The circumstances of your birth are irrelevant" Yes, Aslaug the space Viking Yellow Ranger just quoted Mewtwo because that quote is important and everyone needs to hear it.
The kissed, shippers rejoice….Obviously this is far from over and they need to have a talk about feelings and stuff.
Anyone who knows my writing saw that interruption coming from a mile away.
And that's why Paradoxa has never just tried to attack Earth, it's one of the most well defended planets in the Alliance….After so many alien invasions humanity got a little paranoid.
Yes Paradoxa literally nerve gassed a sizeable chunk of her forces just to make sure that there were no prisoners who could tell the Alliance where their base is.
Ivan clearly never trusted Paradoxa and the fact that she killed him just came back to bite her….the Aquabase might be gone, but all of the intel was channelled through the Moonbase.
The funny thing is that Paradoxa doesn't actually know that Kay has abandoned the Empire here, she's just throwing them under the bus because they promised an opening to attack and someone's head has to roll.
Headcanon that Jack and Z fight dirty as hell.
Well that Jack and Z out of commission, to quote Thanos "All that for a drop of blood?"
Bridge has got hands….magic hands.
Now I understand that Piggy have alien shotgun-rail gun hybrids in the basement looks really bad for him….but remember that Earth just had its' first monster attack in decades right on his doorstep; that's protection for the community.
Rangers to the rescue, as if there could be any other outcome here.
No visual….which means that Panthera was taking a very serious risk when she launched her weapon like that.
Okay I'll admit it here, Dana's actions are kind of inspired by General Ironwood's character arc in Vol.7 of RWBY but honestly the seeds have been there for a while, Dana has been using steadily more un-Ranger-like tactics.
This isn't the start of Dana becoming an enemy but I felt that a touch of that kind of realism was needed because as cool as the giant mech fights are I feel like at some point the government would just order a target bombed or nuked…..especially if it happened to be in a part of town that the 'other' lives.
And just so there's no debate I am firmly on Kimberley's side of this, the moment you're willing to sacrifice civilian lives you're the enemy.
Yeah Panthera is definitely pissed….Remember that she was living on her ship at the start of the story; now she's lost two homes since she joined the Rangers.
Notice that Kay was deliberately pulling punches; breaking Panthera's visor with the pommel of their sword when they could've easily gone for a kill shot.
Mercy really did just throw her own fears about being nothing but a living weapon in Kay's face….oh they're gonna have some drama in the future.
I'm sorry but Kay can only get blind-sided by Aslaug so many times before they get smarter.
Okay I'll admit that I actually added Mercy using the same Mewtwo quote that Aslaug said to her as I read the chapter back to myself….It wasn't there originally but it should have been because it fits.
"I don't want to be a killer" Mercy and Kay really are more similar than either of them realise, killing Zen-Aku was where Kay realised that they really don't want to be involved in the Dark Empire any more.
It was important to me to have Panthera be involved in trying to talk them down as well.
Now I know that this chapter ended anticlimactically but honestly I think it was the only way it could end; I don't want the Rangers to kill Kay, they won't come back from it and Kay can't carry on doing Lord Zedd's bidding or be allowed to win by killing one of the Rangers….so it had to be resolved another way.
Thank you to Blue Legends for their review on the last chapter.
Well now you've seen what Kay was going to do.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.