Chapter Ten:

Doctor Kuchar

An hour later, Aquila and Tammy outside a small apartment high up in the hills overlooking Silver City.

"At least the view is nice," Tammy said, looking down the hill where they could see the entirety of the city glistening against the coastline and trying to ignore the big smelly dumpster a short distance away.

"Yeah," Aquila said. "Ready to meet my maker?"

Tammy smirked. "Born ready," she said.

Aquila reached out and knocked on the door. Three times. Then one. Then two. After a few agonizing seconds, they heard a quiet voice ask, "Who is it?"

"Pizza delivery," Aquila said.

"What kind? I'm a little picky."

Aquila breathed slightly. He was still safe. "Tater tots. No cheese. Extra chicken."

Tammy raised an eyebrow at him.

"What about the sauce?" the voice asked.

"Only one sauce," Aquila said. "It's chicken too."

Silence, but only for a moment. He heard the sound of several locks being undone. The door flew open, and a large, heavyset man with olive skin and a big bushy mustache stood inside wearing a big smile on his face, his dark eyes twinkling.

"Sean, my boy!" he said, rushing forward and wrapping Aquila in a big bear hug, lifting him off the ground despite his enhancements.

"Hey, doc," Aquila said, patting his back.

The doctor set him back down, and Aquila stepped back to take a closer look at his old mentor. What he saw was a bit concerning. His hair was a mess and his lab coat was more gray than white. Despite his large size, he was much thinner than when Aquila had last seen him, and he had enormous bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"Are you okay, Doc?"

Doctor Kuchar looked at him in confusion for a second. Then he looked down at his dirty lab coat. "Oh, this. I just haven't done laundry in a while." He turned his attention. "And who might this be?"

Tammy stepped forward, holding out her hand to shake his. "Tammy Hayes," she said. "Aquila and I were friends at Corinth."

Doctor Kuchar shook her hand, a bit too roughly for her still healing burns but she didn't say anything about it.

"Friend, you say?" he said, glancing at Aquila with a knowing look. Aquila scratched the back of his head and looked down. "Come in, come in," he said, stepping back into the room. "I just made cookies."

Aquila and Tammy followed him into the room. Once inside, Doctor Kuchar shut the door tight and did up every single one of the locks he had just undone. The inside of the apartment looked every bit as much of a mess as the man living in it. A bed took up most of the space where the main living area should be, and piles of dirty clothes and empty chip bags buried any sign of the floor. A pile of dirty dishes lay stacked in the kitchen sink, a small swarm of flies buzzing around them.

"Sorry about the mess," the doctor said, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. "My lab is right back this way."

He stepped over a pile of clothes and led them down a short hallway to where, if Aquila had the apartment's layout figured out right, the bedroom should be. "I do pretty much all my work in here," he said, unlocking the heavy locks that lined that door as well.

He pushed it open and stepped inside.

Doctor Kuchar's lab was immaculate compared to the main room. He had a bunch of equipment set up all over the place, but it was all kept neat and tidy, not a speck of dirt to be seen anywhere, except for a small pile of dishes stacked on one table, where he'd probably eaten a few recent meals. A plate of cookies that smelled fresh sat on the desk beside them. Tammy stepped over to them and picked up a small, framed photograph nearby.

"That's my family," Doctor Kuchar said, joining her. "That's my wife Rosa there, and my daughter Emily. She'd be about ten now. There's another one now too, a little girl named Maria. She would have turned two about six months ago."

"I bet she's adorable," Tammy said.

Doctor Kuchar looked down. "I wouldn't know," he said. He slumped into a nearby chair, his whole frame sagging. "I've never actually seen her."

Aquila pulled up another chair and sat down beside him. "Are you really sure you're alright, Doc?"

Doctor Kuchar looked Aquila in the eye, trying his best to maintain his normal cheery demeanor. The facade only lasted a few seconds though. "No, not really," he said, looking away. He tried to smooth out his lab coat. "I don't think I've been okay in a while, honestly."

Tammy set down the photo and sat down in another chair nearby. "How long?" she asked.

Doctor Kuchar glanced at the photo Tammy had just put back. "About six months, probably."

The doctor shook his head. "Never mind all that," he said. He sat forward to face Tammy, putting on a serious face. "So, Miss Hayes," he said. "I assume you are the one Sean here went to see today, before all that mess took place downtown."

Tammy sat up a little straighter. "Yes, sir," she said. "That's me."

"He said something about you offering possible protection for the two of us?"

Tammy nodded. "That's right." She glanced at Aquila for support. "At Corinth, I served as an agent representing EAGLE high command, for a special project called the Ranger Project. When the Black Cross attacked, coming after Aquila, I offered him protection with the people I was working for." She chewed her lip and looked at her notes for a second. "Before we go any further, I think you should know, the Ranger Project is a Super Soldier project. Like the one you and Aquila thought you were a part of when-"

She didn't finish, but Doctor Kuchar got the gist. He sat back in his chair and studied her face. "This that red superhero I've been hearing rumors about down in the city?"

He dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small phone, bringing up a blurry image of what was clearly the Red Ranger in action and showing it to her. "That him?"

Tammy nodded. "That's the one," she said.

Doctor Kuchar didn't say anything for a moment, looking down at the image on his phone. He got up and paced the room, fiddling absentmindedly with his instruments. He went to the window, where a small cage sat. He reached inside and pulled out a tiny hamster. He came back and sat down again, letting the small rodent crawl around his fingers. He brushed the fur on its back for a couple seconds before speaking again.

"I knew a young scientist a few years ago," he said. "His name was Will Cranston. Brilliant mind. Gifted inventor. Good friend. If I remember right, he'd been working on a super soldier design that looked almost exactly like this." He glanced up at Tammy. "He ended up dead a couple months later. Supposedly mugged in an alley by some things. His designs went mysteriously missing."

Aquila's eyes widened. He looked at Tammy, who fiddled with her hair and looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"Tammy?" Aquila asked.

Tammy gritted her teeth. "I hope you're burning in hell, Anthony," she muttered under her breath. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, looking back up at Doctor Kuchar. "I know," she said.

She pulled a file from her stack and handed it to him. "He was killed by a Black Cross mole working within EAGLE. He went by the name Anthony Starr, but his real name was Roger Stevens. He was part of our team for years, passing off Cranston's designs as his own. He was my friend, or at least, I thought he was. He's dead now. The Red Ranger took him out a couple months ago, but he took out a lot of my other friends before that."

Tammy wiped her eyes a little. "We found all of that there among his files after he was caught, including details of his conspiracy to kill Dr. Cranston."

Doctor Kuchar flipped through the file, his eyes moving back and forth as he took them all in. He looked up at Tammy, his eyes uncertain. Finally, he set the files down and played with the hamster for a few seconds as it crawled along his shoulder.

"I used to be young and naïve," he said, looking up at Tammy. "I wanted to put my talents to good use, to help the war effort, and I believed the best in everyone. And because of that, I was taken advantage of, my inventions were used for evil purposes, and Sean and I haven't known a moment's rest since. You can imagine how difficult it might be, for me to willingly put my trust in anyone any more."

He got up and returned the hamster to its cage. Tammy looked down at her hands, not saying anything. Doctor Kuchar returned and took his seat again.

Tammy looked up at him, her jaw working as she tried desperately to find the words she wanted to say, feeling grossly inadequate to the task. "I'm sorry," she said, "about all of this. I'm sorry for what you've been through, what the Black Cross has done to you. I get it, not wanting to trust anyone."

She took a deep breath and sat back. "I struggle with that sometimes. After Anthony, and David Ban, and what both of them did, all the people who died because of them, it's hard to trust anyone. I see enemies everywhere, even among my closest friends, and I have no idea what to do about any of it."

She spread her hands helplessly, looking Doctor Kuchar in the eye. "I can't convince you to trust me," she said. "I don't know if there's anything I can say or do that will. I want to help you, both of you. I want to put an end to all of this. But if I can't," she bit her lip, rubbing her bandaged arm for a second, "I'll let you go. I'll leave here now, head back to the base on my own, and you can both get away, go wherever you need to go. And all I can do at that point is wish you good luck, wherever you end up."

She looked at Aquila, reaching out and taking his hand, locking eyes with him. "Just remember me, alright."

Aquila swallowed. He didn't want to have to add one more to the list of people he'd had to leave behind. Finally, he nodded. "I will," he said.

Doctor Kuchar looked back and forth between the two. He looked down at his hands, then back at the photo of his family on the desk. After a moment, he made his decision.

"Do you swear you can protect us?" he asked.

Tammy pulled her eyes away from Aquila and looked at the doctor in surprise. Doctor Kuchar looked back at her. Tammy's mouth fell open and she glanced between him and Aquila. "I promise," she said. "I will do everything in my power to make sure you are both safe."

Doctor Kuchar scanned her face. Tammy set her expression, determined not to show any doubt.

"Alright," he said. "Let's do it."

Tammy's face lit up. "Really?"

Aquila sat forward, looking at his old mentor. "Are you sure, doc?" he asked.

"I'm sure, Sean," the doctor said. He got up, straightening his hair with his hand and smoothing out his lab coat. He picked up his family's photo and looked at it for a second. "I'm tired of running too. I want to see my family again." He turned to Tammy. "So how do we do this? I assume there was a plan."

"Right," Tammy said. "Aquila—I mean, Sean has a tracker."

Hope filled Aquila's heart. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the tracker. He cast one last look at Doctor Kuchar. "Are you sure you really want to do this?"

Doctor Kuchar nodded. He stepped over and picked up the hamster's cage. "Do it, Sean."

Aquila closed his eyes and pressed the button.

Two days later, Aquila sat on an operating table, allowing himself to be strapped down by EAGLE lab techs as Doctor Kuchar got his Icarus serum ready. The doctor looked a lot better than he had back at the apartment. His hair was combed, and he wore a nice, clean lab coat. He was still thinner than normal, and the bags under his eyes hadn't entirely gone away, but clearly working in a real lab again was doing wonders for him.

Doctor Kuchar stood over him, holding a syringe full of glowing white liquid. "Are you sure about this, Sean?" he asked. "You could still be a hero."

"I'm sure," Aquila said. "I'm ready to be normal."

"Alright," he said. "Now, I should warn you, this is going to hurt. A lot. Every bit as badly as the first operation did, but with one major difference. You won't have any enhancements to help you recover afterward. You understand that, right?"

Aquila nodded. "I know, doc," he said. "Give it to me."

Doctor Kuchar nodded, looking over Aquila with concern. He nodded to his aides, and two of them took hold of his arm, holding it out for him. Doctor Kuchar placed the special syringe against his skin and switched it on. Aquila clenched his fist in pain as the tip drilled itself into his flesh. Once through, Doctor Kuchar injected the serum into his bloodstream.

The pain was instant, just like before. The glowing liquid surged its way up his arm, disintegrating every single nanite it came across.

"Hold him!" Doctor Kuchar shouted, as his body convulsed involuntarily, pulling at the straps holding him down. The pain wracked his brain, making his thoughts fuzzy. It creeped its way up his arm and around his shoulder. Finally, it reached his heart, and, just like before, he found himself blacking out.

He woke several days later in a small recovery room. A bright fluorescent light shone down on him, making him squint and his head throb. A machine beside him beeped at a steady rhythm with his heartbeat. He sat up, his whole body feeling red and raw.

"Aquila!"

He turned to see Tammy sitting in a nearby chair, a bunch of notes and files spread out around her and a clipboard in her hand. "You're awake," she said, putting the clipboard aside.

"Sean," he said, rubbing his temples and trying to clear his head.

"What?"

"Sean," he repeated, looking up at her. "My name is Sean. Not Aquila anymore."

Tammy looked at him, a small smile crossing her face. "Right," she said. "Sean then."

Sean stared at his hand, turning it over and over again in the lighting. No metallic sheen any more. Just a normal human hand. He clenched his fist and felt only the strength of a regular human's grip. "I'm me again," he said, looking at Tammy.

Tammy smiled. "Yes, you are."

Elation filled Sean's body. He flipped the blankets off of himself and jumped off the bed, embracing Tammy and squeezing as tightly as he could, glad to not hold back any longer.

He squeezed maybe a little too much though. His back flared with pain. He yelped and pulled back, sitting on the bed again.

"Are you alright?" Tammy asked.

"Yeah," Sean said. "I'm fine." He shook his head, rubbing his back. "Doctor Kuchar wasn't kidding. That really hurt."

He looked around, realizing no one else was in the room. "Where's Doctor Kuchar?" he asked. "Is he safe? What's been happening?"

"He's fine," Tammy said, rubbing his shoulder. "Everything's fine. He's safe. He left here yesterday."

Sean looked up. "He left?" he asked. "Where did he go?"

"Stone Canyon," she said. "To get his family. He didn't know how long you'd be out and he didn't want to wait too long."

Sean sat back, running his hand through his hair. Tammy handed him his hat, which had been placed on his side table. Sean smiled at it and put it on.

"They'll be back," Tammy said, sitting back down in her seat. "He's traveling in a heavily armored caravan, surrounded by some of our best troops. He'll be well taken care of. And when you're back on your feet, we can head out to Texas and find your family too."

Sean looked up. His family, he thought. Their faces came immediately to his mind, his mother, his father, his three brothers and five sisters. He could see them all again. It was really over. A wide smile spread across his face.

A noise in the hall drew their attention. General Kenpachi's raised voice met their ears, talking to someone on a radio. "What do you mean you can't find him?" he asked. "He melted a wall. Surely that means there's something you can track. A heat signature or something."

Another voice responded, crackling and muffled like through a radio. Tammy and Sean looked at each other and went to the door, opening it to find General Kenpachi pacing back and forth with a communicator held to his ear. Katie and a captain with short, slightly curly hair stood beside him. The general looked frustrating, rubbing his bald spot as he listened to the person on the other end.

"What's going on?" Tammy asked.

General Kenpachi looked up from his communicator, surprised to see them both there. "You're up?" he said.

Sean looked down at himself. "Yeah," he said. "I am. Is everything okay?"

"The Sun Mask has escaped," Katie explained.

"They found his cell empty this morning," the general continued. "The cameras were fried, one wall melted clean through, and his guards' faces burned off and their bodies stacked in his bed. We're looking for him now."

The young captain stepped up. "I can head out immediately if you need me to, General," he said, holding up his wrist, where a small, strange device was attached.

General Kenpachi nodded. "Please do, Captain Cage. And be careful. We don't know what he's capable of. I don't want to hear about your face being melted off too."

"Anything we can do to help?" Sean asked.

General Kenpachi shook his head. "I'd rather not send out any troops except the Red Ranger until we know more."

His communicator blared with another loud signal, the sound of a high-security alert. "What now?" he said. He clicked it on. "Kenpachi."

"Sir," a voice said from the other end. "We've lost Doctor Kuchar."

Sean's eyes widened. General Kenpachi stared at the communicator. "What do you mean, you lost Doctor Kuchar?"

"We lost contact with the caravan. Communications, tracking, they're all down, sir. They've gone completely off the grid."