Chapter 10: Infiltration
"That should do it." Tanya said putting away the leftover fabric and materials. "How does it fit?"
Tommy stands, still masked, while wearing the suit of the enemy leader, Drakkon. He moves slowly in various motions, testing its maneuverability. "Like a glove." He almost hated to admit it.
Tanya pick up the helmet and hands it to him. "I don't know if the helmet will fit comfortably, you wouldn't remove the make so I could get a proper measurement. What is with the mask anyway?"
"Can't say. It's a bit much to explain and I don't think you'd get it." Tommy answered not liking to keep people in the dark, especially those he had once considered friends. "Do you have any spare Guard suits for my teams?"
"That wont be a problem. Just let me know how many." She replied pulling out a rack of already made suits.
In the training room Kira goes through her fighting forms, she knew if they were caught they'd have to fight. The memory of her captivity was still in her mind as she went through her forms again and again until she collapsed to her knees in sweat.
"I wont be captured again.." She said to herself.
"There are no words to describe how sorry we are that we couldn't get to you sooner." Kimberly said walking into the room.
Kira got back on her feet wiping sweat from her forehead. "You don't have to apologize for anything. We both know I'm the one who should apologize." She took her stance again and started her forms again. "I must have been acting like a total bitch."
"You said it not me." Kimberly said jokingly as she walks over to a bench and sits down. "It's ok, Kira. Really."
Kira stopped in mid thrusting punch and stood silently. "How long was I gone in our world?" Kira asked softly, almost as if she were scared to ask.
"Two weeks." Kimberly answered.
"Did anyone tell my parents? Did any of you give them an excuse for why I wasn't there?" Kira continued still facing away from Kimberly.
Kimberly sat in silence. "No... No one said anything to them.. We were so focused on trying to find you."
"And they never asked any you where I was..? They never looked for me or even cared that I was missing with no word for weeks...?"
Kimberly was surprised at the coldness of Kira's words. "Kira..."
"I can't say I'm surprised, most days I felt like I was lucky that they remember they even have a kid..." Kira turns and sits next to Kimberly.
"I had no idea how things were for you at home." Kim responded.
"No one knows, other than you. The day before you guys visited me i found out they decided to go on a trip, not from them, but from one of my mom's coworkers..." Kira paused when she saw the look of disgust on Kim's face. "I felt invisible and unimportant... I always felt like the world could care less about me and my problems.. until Tommy showed up.. He actually saw me and listened when I had something to say.. I guess somewhere along the way my feelings of gratitude for him got mixed up and turned into something else..."
Kim pulled her in for a hug, for a moment Kira didn't know what to do before hugging back. "You are not invisible, and you are far from unimportant. You mean the world to us, we are your family." Kimberly lets go from the hug as Kira wipes away a tear and smiles.
Connor walks into the room as they finished they're hug. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
"Just doing a little girl talk." Kim said with a smile.
"Well Dr. O wants to get the gang together. He says it's time."
"You think we could maybe stop off at the Mess Hall? I have a weird craving for a peanut butter and mustard sandwich." Kim asked as they were leaving the training room.
-Angel Grove-
The extra dimensional Rangers make their way to Drakkon's fortress. Trent and Connor squirm in their disguises.
"These things are a little tight." Trent complained.
"They were made in a hurry, don't get in a fight and you wont have a problem. They're made to look authentic not functional." Aisha replied as she lead them through the tunnel to the manhole near the fortress. "Okay, this is going to drop you a block near the fortress. There's a blind spot in the back that you can slip in."
"Great." Tommy speaks into a communicator. "TJ, are you in position?"
In the ruins of Angel Grove, TJ stood in his Blue Guard disguise. "Ready when you are."
"Go for it." Tommy replied.
Deep under the ruined city, Drakkon's Ranger Soldiers walk through the city looking for Rebels. A Blue Ranger Guard stumbles from an alley limping to the group of soldiers.
"I found them! Rebels! My Unit was jumped by those new rangers in Sector 42! Send reinforcements!" The Blue Guard shouted to the Ranger Soldiers.
The Ranger Soldiers charge down the alley calling for reinforcements.
"Reinforcements to Sector 42! The New Rangers have been spotted! All available soldiers to Sector 42!" One of the Soldiers shouts on him comm.
"Belay that order." Lord Drakkon responded on comm. "I'll handle this on my own."
One Soldier stays behind with the Blue Guard.
"Do you require medical-"
The Blue Guard slams his palm into the face of the Soldier's helmet shattering the viser, knocking him out cold.
"Looks like Drakkon took the bait. He's leading the reinforcement on Sector 42. You can slip in undetected."
"Roger that, get back to the others once we disable the towers you guys hall ass." Tommy replied. "Aiasha you head back there too, thanks for leading us this far." He started ascending the ladder.
Tommy lifts the manhole and pears out to see if the coast was clear. There was not a soul to be seen. Quickly crawling out he helps everyone else up as they begin to make their way into the fortress from behind. The exterior for the fortress was depressing, all concrete and barbed wire.
"This seems a little too easy.." Ethan commented. "There's not even a single guard out here."
"Maybe they're on a lunch break." Connor replied.
"Halt!" A group of Black Soldiers step forward with their weapons drawn.
Tommy turns to face them. "You dare to order me?" Trying to sound as like Drakkon.
"My Lord?" The group quickly lowered. "You just left. Why have you returned so soon?"
"The insurgents have been captured and are on their way back to the compound." Tommy began to walk forward towards the entrance. "Now move."
They pause for a moment before holding their weapons up again. "We're sorry, my Lord. Could you remove your helmet?"
The Rangers stand still but they can feel the nervousness prickling up their spines as Tommy takes two determined steps towards the Soldiers. He stood a foot from them as he removed his helmet, long hair tumbled as the face of Lord Drakkon was reveled.
"Move. Now." Tommy spoke with a slow, cold tone. The sound made Kira cringe, she never thought Tommy could ever sound that cold. The soldiers quickly moved aside as Tommy walked through coming up to the entrance with his hands resting behind his back. He turns and points to a soldier. "You. Open it."
The soldier runs up and enters the code to open the door. As Tommy enters the rest of his team follows behind. The interior of the hall was even more depressing. Wall to wall steel panels and wheel locking doors. It felt like going from prison to a Soviet submarine. Once the doors close Tommy stops mid step. He stands still and quiet.
"You ok?" Kim asked with a touch of concern in her voice.
Without warning he slams hims fist into the wall, bending the steel plate slightly. Pulling the fist from the wall he continues walking. "I'm fine."
The Rangers follow after him, "Billy, where am I going?" Tommy speaks into the come in his ear as he walks.
Billy's voice cuts through static of the earpiece. "Let me triangulate your location and then-" Billy's voice fades from Tommy's focus as he catches his reflection in a hallway window. He looked at himself, examining the details of his face. The more he looks at himself the more he sees that there isn't a difference between him and Drakkon. Obviously they were both Tommy Oliver but beyond that he hated how easy it was to act like him. How easy it was to give himself to his anger and inner darkness.
'No matter how long it's been, no matter how much good I do there will always be darkness inside me..' Tommy thought to himself as Billy's voice fades back in.
"Tommy? Tommy, did you hear me?"
"What? Come again?"
"I said it's just ahead about 10 meters then it'll be left until you see the guard detail in front. Once you get inside I wont be able to be in communication with you without them knowing. So once you get inside I need you to plant that little black box I gave you in or near a computer bay, with that I'll be able to access their systems without them knowing and loop their tower data so they wont know the towers are down. Got all that?" Billy repeated.
"Get it, plug in, get out. Got it." Tommy replied putting the helmet back on and turning to his team. "I'll handle this part on my own, you guys see what you can learn and what you can find. The more we know about our enemy the better."
With that they split in separate directions. Tommy walked up to the room under guard by two Blue Guards, they see him and straighten their stance. "My Lord, we thought you had-"
"False alarm, open it." Tommy answered sharply as they jumped slightly and quickly punching in the code making the door slide open. The control room was large and dark, there was a noticeable chill in the room as he walked it. He scanned the room seeing the few workers monitoring the screens as they checking the walls of computer towers. "The siting of Rebels in Section 42 was a ruse. What siting if any can you give me?" Tommy stood with his arms locked behind his back.
They stood nervous facing him. "We.. we haven't found any siting just yet.." One trembled as he replied.
Tommy walked to one of the computer towers and stood quietly before banging his fist against the side. "They make me look like a fool! Chasing my own tail! Don't give me excuses find something!" He yelled, as they fearfully ran back to work. Once they were all facing away he quietly took out the black box and fixed it behind the tower he hit before leaving the room. Walking far enough down the hall he quietly activated his communicator. "Billy, the box is planted. Do your thing."
Elsewhere in Drakkon's Fortress Connor and Kira wonder the halls.
"I know Dr.O wants us to learn everything we can find and all but did he realize how big this place is?" Connor exclaims as he looks through the hall.
"Hey did you hear something?" A view sounds from down the hall.
"Shit. Hide!" Kira whispers as she pushes Connor into one of recessed entrances, pressing herself against him to stay as far out of view as possible.
"There's nothing here." A second voice says as the voices got closer. Kira and Connor froze trying to stay as invisible as possible. A man walks by their hiding place as he pushed a mop and wheeled bucket along. He was heavy set, completely bald but covered the top of his head with a bandana.
"I'm telling you, Bulky. I heard voices." The other insisted. He was tall and skinny with messy black hair and a patchy goatee.
"I'm telling you, Skull, those bleach fumes are rotting your brain." Bulk retorted.
"Why are we even still doing here? We're freaking janitors. If we're smart we should ditch the job and ditch this whole place fast." Skull complained.
"Because, if you want to find a secret to beat the bad guy you need to work for the bad guy, gain his trust and then crush him." Bulk theatrically gripped his fist held out in front of his face.
"Or... Instead of WE "crushing him" we can find some info then pass it off to the Rebels and get the fuck out of here before he kills us. We are janitors, Bulky not superheroes." Skull pats Bulk's shoulder to calm him down.
"Hey, they aren't one of Drakkon's brainwashed followers." Connor whispers to Kira. "Maybe they can help us."
"Conn-" Before Kira could retort him Connor had already moved past her making his way to them.
"You guys, you're trying to give info to Rebels?" Connor called out. He was part of the resistance but all they saw was a Red Ranger Guard walking up to them.
"Shit, you did it now Bulky! Cheese it!" Skull called out as he turns to run but is stopped by a Yellow Soldier.
"Hold it guys, it's not what you're thinking." Kira says calmly as she removes her helmet. "We're part of the Rebels, we snuck it for intel."
"If you have any info we could use it and we could also get you guys out of here." Connor continued. "What can you tell us?"
"It's more like something we can show you." Bulk replied after he and Skull calmed down.
The throne room was massive and dark, a single light glowed from above the thrown. Finister-5 stood near the throne typing on a tablet as Bulk meakishly walks into view. "Um.. Mr. Finster-5 sir.. sorry to interrupt what you're working on but... would it be ok if we.. my partner and I, start cleaning in here.. sir?" Bulk kept his face low, he somehow managed to make his large frame seem to shrink.
Finster-5 lets out an audible sign and lays the tablet at the throne. "Are there guards present?"
"There is a Yellow Soldier and Red Guard standing out front.. sir. We shouldn't be long.." Bulk replied face pointed to the ground.
Finster-5 without speaking walks out of the throne room passing the two standing guard. "Watch them." They both nod then turn into the room.
Once the doors close they remove their helmets to reveal Connor and Kira.
"That's a pretty swanky chair." Connor says as he circles the throne.
Skull picks up the tablet and plops himself on the throne and begins typing on the tablet. "Usually their tablets are super encrypted but a while back I got my hands on an unlocked one. I installed a subroutine that gives me unfettered backdoor access to their entire system. I learned a thing or two about a thing or two." As he finishes typing a wall of holographic monitors appear with various types of stats and information. Bulk and Skull look through everything as Kira watched, Connor on the other hand wondered the room.
As his eyes adjusted to the dark he began to make out that this wasn't just an empty room but a trophy room. He walked by a pair of broken yellow Power Daggers, a Red Power Sword very similar to his own snapped in two, a staff with what looked like a cresent mook with a red gem on it, a white sword with a tiger head as his eyes finally fell on a sword with a curved S shaped blade a large ruby at the hilt and a red tassel at the base of the sword. He reaches out to it before he hears an unfamiliar voice. "I would not touch that if I were you, the Sword of Darkness even in its current state is quite an intense item."
Connor spins to see the white sword floating with its tiger head facing him. "You...you can talk?"
"Quite. I have been in hibernation for a number of years waiting for you to arrive. Now that you are here you can liberate me from this confinement." The sword replied.
"Guys... am I crazy or do swords talk in this dimension...?" Connor called out to the others not taking his eyes off the sword.
Back over at the throne Skull is passing through the files looking for the one he was looking for. "Found it!" He pulls up the file and expands it on the screen. "I don't know what a lot of this info means but I know what this means." He points to the graphic of a DNA strand being torn apart.
"He's dying?" Kira said in astonishment.
"Guys!" Connor called out finally getting Kira's attention.
She meets up with Connor. "Kira, this thing is talking."
"I am not a thing, my name is Saba. I was to be the weapon and partner to the White Ranger. And if you are going to be laying siege on Drakkon's hold of this world, I would like to lend my services." Saba replied.
"No Connor, you're not crazy. Saba do you know if there is an alarm or something on your case?" Kira asked.
"Yes, but you can find the disarmament code within the tablet in you friend 'Skull's possession. Type in the code onto my case panel and I will be released for my confinement." Saba continued.
"He sure does talk alot." Skull commented as he pulled up the code and began typing it out releasing the lock and opening the case.
"You would to if you haven't had anyone to talk to for over a decade, I thank you very much." Saba retorted with a scoff as Connor picks up Saba gently.
"Guys.." Bulk spoke nervously in a soft tone.
They turn to see Lord Drakkon standing at the entrance to the room with a Yellow Guard, Blue Guard and Black Soldier.
Connor and Kira run in front of Bulk and Skull and get ready for a fight.
"Wait wait wait it's us!" The four quickly threw up their hands in surrender.
they take off their helmets except for Tommy.
"Dr. O, Trent, Ethan, Kim?" They asked as they lowered their fists. "Jesus your scared the hell out of us."
"So we are about to get executed?" Bulk asked stepping out from behind them.
"Oh, my bad. Bulk and Skull meet Ethan, Trent, Kim and T-" Kira begins to talk but is cut off by Tommy.
"How did everything go?" Tommy asked.
"Skull found us a mountain of intel and data that can be super useful." Kira answered.
"I found a talking sword." Connor chimed in.
"We didn't really find anything significant." Trent replied.
"Except for the fact that everyone in this place is drinking that crazy Koolaid.. present company excluded." Ethan commented.
Tommy walked past them without saying anything. He caught sight of something in the hologram files. Clicking it, opened up a scattering of images and video files, all of Kira. Tommy looks over to Kira to see the look of shock on her face.
"That's from when we went foe Shwarma, that one's from my last concert, that's from... what the fuck is all this..?" Kira asked with a noticeable quiver of fear in her voice.
Kim's focus is pulled to a video feed of Kira sitting on a bed in a cell. "The fuck? That sicko even had cameras in the cell you were in." Kim commented in disgust.
Kira looks at the video file and realizes something awful. "Guys.. That's not me. That's live footage..."
Outside of the Drakkon's citadel, soldiers walk the wall keeping an eye for trouble. A bolt of lightning strikes the ground within the walls of the fortress. As the smoke clears Lord Drakkon stood holding an old CPR dummy painted to look like the classic Red Power Ranger. Drakkon throws the doll to one of the soldiers without a word walking to the entrance.
As he walks up the two Red Guards look at one another then speak. "My Lord..? We already received word that you returned some time ago..."
Back in Drakkon's throne room, Tommy pulls off his helmet and ripped away the wig and skin prosthetics. "That son of a Bitch..." Tommy says under his breath.
Suddenly a siren blairs. "Warning, intruders have infiltrated the fortress." Tommy throws a thumb drive at Skull. "Download everything you can on that. Kimberley, you and Kira save her."
"What about the rest of us Dr.O?" Ethan asks.
Tommy grins as he pulls out his morpher. "We're going to raise some hell. It's Morphing Time!"
"Dino Zeo Red!"
"Dino Zeo Blue!"
"Dino Zeo Black!"
"White Dragon Power!"
Outside, in the hallway guards and soldiers charge to the throne room but before they could breach the doors, the doors are blown off as the soldiers are engulfed in a food of blaster fire. The first waves of soldiers were hit and downed as the Dino Zeo Rangers rush into the hallway and begin to fight the ones not hit by the blasts. "Make it hurt, Rangers!" The White Dragon Ranger shouted. Connor still holding Saba uses his sword and Saba as he takes out three Black Soldiers with ease. Tommy lands a spin kick across a Blue Guards helmet then grabs a Red Guard by the shoulders and throwing him into a group of soldiers.
As the chaos ensued, Skull downloaded as much data as the drive could hold, leaving the tablet he quickly follows Kim, Kira and Bulk as they sneak out of the room making their way to the prison.
"Your friend really knows how to draw a crowd." Bulk says keeping low to avoid the blaster fire.
"You have no idea." Kimberley responds. "Which way to the cells?"
"Follow me." Kira said as she starts to lead.
It wasn't long until they were in the cell block, just stepping into the hallway sent shivers down her spine. Kira did her best to push her anxiety to the back of her mind, she had to be in control. They started moving from room to room looking for this world's Kira. Skull pears through a window to see a girl huddled on a bed. "Guys, I found somebody."
They force the door open, and step in. The Kira presses herself into the corner as much as she can as she sees them enter. "What now? What do you want?" That world's Kira said with a note of fear.
They hold their remove their helmets to ease the tension. "We're hear to get you out." Kira replied. "I know this is going to be weird but-"
"You're the other me. You're the reason I'm in here... When you escaped he found me instead.." The other Kira interrupted.
There is a blast of guilt across her face, she didn't want to be here and now because of her there is another person paying for it to. "Well, we're here to get you out now." Kira replied as she outstretched her hand.
The other Kira is apprehensive but soon takes it as she is lead out and up to join the rest of the team. Kim rounds the corner and is met with a solid kick to the face sending her to the ground. Kira is backhanded across the face and grabbed by her throat as Kim has her head pinned to the floor by the boot of Lord Drakkon. He lifts Kira from the ground by the throat.
"I knew two things when I heard that you first escaped. One, that you would be coming back sooner or later and two, you would be bringing friends." He pressed his boot down on Kim's head a bit more harder listening to her struggle and groan in pain. A line of blood begins to trickle from under the boot. "But I didn't know you would bring her." He looks down at Kim then over to the other Kira trying to ball up and shrink into the wall as much as she could. "You know Kimberley, I am actually happy to see you. When I killed you all those years ago, I was saddened I couldn't kill you twice." Kim strains to make eye contact with Drakkon. Even through the blood trickling past her eye she showed no fear in her eyes. "Goodbye, Kimmy."
Drakkon lifts his foot to stomp it down on her head but stops as he hears a shout. "Kim, Kira!" Trent shouted as the Rangers run up. He points his Axe Blaster at Drakkon but has it grabbed by Tommy.
"Don't you'll hit the girl." Tommy protested watching Drakkon hold Kira in front of him like a human shield.
Drakkon laughs as he slowly sways Kira in the air mockingly in front of her friends. That world's Kira watched from the floor at her swaying before without warning jumps at Drakkon shoving him, causing him to drop her. "You little-!" Drakkon shouts as he shoves her to the ground. He looks back to the Rangers just in time to see Connor raise Saba to face him. With a flash two red beams of energy shoot from Saba's eyes slamming into Drakkon's chest sending him flying backward and to the ground.
"I suggest we utilize this time to make a swift exit." Saba commented.
The Kira's help Kim up to join Bulk, Skull and the other Rangers, powering down, they used the chaos to slip away into sewers and out of Drakkon's fortress.

[Sorry for the long wait but I had to figure out where I wanted the story to go and how I wanted it to all end. Let me know what you think of the series.]