Pawn
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming, SA June and Sir Perfluous for their OC's used in this fic.
After the incident within Spindle Town, the Occult rangers soon closed in on Joe's position and helped to fix his arm back in place while he explained the incident that had transpired in greater detail to the group conveying what he found after Xander fled the area. Returning to the Clubroom, the rangers began to plan a course of action to deal with this deadly new adversary.
"We should be quick, just head out there and deal with this guy. Who knows how quickly he'll get there." Nyssa insisted.
"Hold on." Joe started, smoothing out his now not so slick black hair. "This guy knows who I am, chances are he know who you guys are too. We need a good plan if we're gonna deal with him."
The black ranger gave a defeated sigh. "If he's gone by the time we get there, you've only yourself to blame. What's the plan then?"
"Saya, do you know anyone like this, an assassin who knows more about us than we think?" Joe asked, to which the Demon on the nearby seat tapped her index finger against her chin.
"Hmm… He could be an Acumen agent, given he knows what you are and probably more about all of us. That or he works for the Cult." She suggested.
"Acumen, what's that, sounds like some made up spy agency." Max chimed in, only half interested in the topic.
"I understand why you might think that, the name in itself only suggests it's an observational agency. But the agency exists to both spy on and eliminate high profile targets. Fortunately the organisation is Underworld aligned, so if this Xander is part of Acumen, he isn't our enemy." Saya added.
"That's another thing he said." Joe interjected, just realising a detail he had missed in his summary. "He said that this whole thing was 'Underworld Business' so maybe he is part of this 'Acumen.' after all."
"I'm not sure I like the idea of being a high profile anything, even if they are just watching us." Ellie said, unnerved by the thought of being watched while darting her eyes around the room.
"Chances are they're watching us right now Ellie." Nyssa teased with a grin.
"Hey, knock it off!" The crimson ranger blared out swatting at the black ranger's shoulder in retaliation.
"Regardless we should be cautious about this. It's a big unknown so I'll head in first and see what Xander's up to, if I need you I'll activate my communicator, that's your cue to head in. Sound like a plan?" Joe decided, taking charge again.
"Just be careful Joe, whatever he is, he's dangerous. We all know you'll probably be fine but you never know what tricks someone like that might have under his sleeve. Keep on your toes with this." Saya voiced her concerns. Yet with no complaints of his plan from his peers, the matter was settled. All that was left was for the rangers to head to the address in the City and confront Xander. Whether they were ready for what awaited them however, was another matter.
[Occult Circle]
Heading to the address they found, the rangers soon found themselves making their way toward a derelict factory. The first thing they noticed was that the locks to the doors had been broken. So too was the eerie silence of the area broken as sounds of weapons clashing against each other soon erupted from within the structure.
"Damn it, sounds like we're late to the party." Joe said, rushing through the opened door without word or warning to his friends.
After a few moments, the persistent sounds of battle emanating from within, Nyssa shook her head. "Tch, screw the plan." Nyssa muttered before taking off after Joe to the surprise of the other rangers.
"Damnit Nyssa." Saya sighed before looking to the other two.
"So much for that plan." Ellie remarked as the three remaining returned their attention to the now wide open door.
"We should go after them, before they get in trouble." Max suggested to the girls, who nodded as they chased after their companions into the midst of the fighting.
When emerging into the centre floor of the factory, they found a wide clear area surrounded by heavy machinery, metal chains dangling from the ceiling and swinging slightly from the blows of the ensuing battle. Observing the battlefield, they saw two conflicting parties, yet no sign of the Acumen assassin Xander.
The first group of fighters bore the familiar black armoured body gloves of Seraphim agents, in their hands, the synthetic Celestial Lightspears that each of their members bear. There was no doubt that these were indeed Seraphim's agents. Though why they had gone dark since Sera's murder and only surfaced now was anyone's guess, the fact was they had indeed returned, yet for what purpose remained a mystery.
As the rangers regrouped to see the ensuing battle, they caught sight of the opposing force. Clad in black metallic armour from head to toe, fighting back against the Seraphim agents with straight black short swords daggers, their soot coloured wings extended, using them as additional weapons to fight their foes. Nyssa's eyes stretched wide. These were indeed forces of the Abyssal Cult, but none like the rangers had faced against before. These were soldiers of the Fallen Angel Army and by the looks of it, they were slowly gaining the advantage against their foes.
"Give us the information human!" A footsoldier snarled as he locked his weapons with that of a Seraphim agent with rough dark brown hair and three claw scars running down the side of his face.
"Damn that demon scum…" He growled. "He double crossed us."
"Sounds like he double crossed us both." The Fallen Angel retorted as they push their weapons away and leapt backwards to recover slightly.
"The Cult's bringing out their stronger troops now." Nyssa gritted her teeth, she hadn't anticipated fighting her own kind right now. "Those agents have no chance of surviving."
"Neither will your kind if that Xander is everything he seems. We need to diffuse this situation before things get worse. Joe what's the plan? Joe?" Saya asked, looking to the leader when she received no response. He stood frozen, watching the Seraphim agent that had just exchanged words with the Fallen Angel.
Clenching his fists until his knuckles went white, Joe seethed, his anger taking over. "That's him…" He muttered. "That's who murdered Sera…" He growled. "Occult Breakout!"
Transforming in a surge of red energy, the red ranger drew his Infinity Saber and charged at the Seraphim agent. At the murderer of his friend and the one that had been indirectly responsible for everything to her after. He saw only red as he moved in on his target, he didn't want justice, he wanted to deliver retribution. Nothing else mattered when he saw Seraphim Four's face, not even stopping Xander.
As the others watched with increasing alarm, they saw that the confusion of the red ranger's emergence onto the battlefield had given the Fallen Angels the upperhand. Cutting down a significant number of the Seraphim agents, they turned their attention to the rangers themselves.
"Dammit Joe. Looks like there's nothing for it. Ready rangers?" Saya asked as they all brandished their Occult rings.
"Occult Breakout!"
Morphing in a burst of multi-coloured energy the rangers quickly drew their weapons and charged at the advancing Cult force. Clashing weapons, the rangers soon fanned out and began fending off the footsoldiers. Hoping that Xander didn't arrive and complicate things further.
Thrusting her foot at her attacker, Nyssa delivered a roundhouse kick to the Fallen Angel soldier before leaping back and drawing her bow and firing off several quick shots, piercing into the armour of her foe as the warrior advanced. Soon coming into close range, the footsoldier lashed out with the two blades, giving the black ranger only seconds to bring her bow up to block the vicious attack.
Now fighting one on one with Seraphim Four, Joe exchanged blows with the murderer as he landed powerful strikes with his Infinity Saber against Four's synthetic Lightspear, steadily breaking his guard.
"So we meet again Immortal." Four grinned as he stepped back to keep his footing.
"You'll pay for what you did." Joe declared as he delivered one last powerful blow, sending the foe's weapon spinning from his hand and clattering to the ground several feet behind him. "Now it's time you get what you deserve." He added as he brought his blade up and swung it down to deal the fatal blow.
Before it could connect, Je felt his hand fly back alongside his weapon as a projectile clashed against his blade. In that moment of distraction, Four sprinted toward his weapon, collecting it before deciding to retreat through the factory, leaping over a low piece of machinery. Looking to whoever had stopped him dealing out vengeance, the red ranger saw Xander sprint up.
"I told you to stay away. The thing you're getting yourself into, it's dangerous for you all. Too late for that now though." Xander said to the ranger as the latter pointed his rapier at him.
"I almost had him, now he's getting away. I could finally…" Joe berated the assassin as he turned to watch the fleeing Seraphim agent.
"I need him alive to answer a few questions, after that, he's disposable." Xander reasoned.
"Fine, but if I get to him before you, I can't promise anything." Joe decided, having calmed down somewhat since Xander intervened, before finally taking off through the maze of heavy machinery.
Xander sighed. "Guess I'll have to doubletime this." Lifting his left hand up, he waved his right hand over it, revealing an intricately carved silver ring containing a dull grey gemstone. "Occult Breakout." He called calmly as he was absorbed by a surge of grey energy.
When it quickly subsided, he wore a ranger suit quite similar to that of the other Occult rangers. It had a solid grey torso and pants with sleeves of a much darker grey colour. His boots were the same dark grey colour with a matte silver banding while his gloves followed suit, dark grey with matte silver banding around his wrists. His belt was oddly translucent giving off a spectral vibe while the shape seemed to be that of an arrowhead design buckled it. The same design marked the chest of the suit in the same matted silver as his suit's accents. His helmet bore two large hollow holes resembling eyes on the visor, trimmed in matte silver while the rest of the helmet appeared completely undetailed. Holstered at his side was the crossbow he had used only a minute ago to stay Joe's blade. Strapped to his wrists were a pair of peculiar weapons, wrist mounted retractable blades.
Taking off running, the spectral new power ranger quickly went out of phase and back in as he passed through machinery in an effort to catch up to the agent and his pursuing ranger.
Back within the main factory floor, the fight between the Fallen Angel soldiers and the rangers was still underway. Pushing aside the weapons of a soldier with his axe, Max brought a free hand to the face of his foe with a heavy handed punch, knocking his opponent to the ground several feet away.
Lunging in with her dagger, the crimson ranger quickly parried her opponent's own dagger and sword, disarming the soldier as she unleashed a powerful upwards diagonal slash, cutting clean through the foe's armour. Catching the Fallen Angel off guard, Ellie dealt a strong back kick, knocking the wind out of her opponent as the soldier collapsed at her feet.
Back where Nyssa had been fighting, she had now unfurled her wings and taken to the air, as had the kin she opposed. Performing evasive aerial maneuvers as the Fallen Angel swooped in and thrusted with his weapons, Nyssa narrowly evaded the attack as she began to draw back her bow and channel her power into the arrow. Unleashing it as the soldier flew head on at her, the arrow, encased in purple energy zipped through the air and struck straight through her foe's shoulder, piercing it and part of his wing as it lodged itself in place. The shock and pain of the attack coupled with the magic it been reinforced with dropped the Fallen Angel like a fly as he collapsed to the ground. The black ranger gave a sigh of relief as she descended and tucked her wings in.
Only one foe remained now, with the remaining Fallen Angels incapacitated or injured. Saya struck ruthlessly with her cutlass, giving her enemy no time to recover from each subsequent attack. When she had to foe right where she wanted him, she unfurled her four demonic wings and zipped quickly up above the soldier. While her foe thought of this as time to recover. The other rangers stood watching as she ignited her cutlass with her demonic blue fire before tucking her wings in and falling to the ground. Sticking her leg out she prepared her signature move.
"Leviafag Kick!" The blue ranger announced as she brought her leg back in and brought her blade out for an overhead slash.
"Wait what? That's not a-" The Fallen Angel footsoldier started as he looked up only for Saya's blade to run straight down the centre of him, bisecting the foe. "Kick…"
As he dropped, the rangers regrouped. Nyssa sighed. "You just couldn't resist doing that, could you?"
Saya stifled a chuckle. "I do it whenever I get the chance.
[Occult Circle]
Deeper within the factory, having chased their prey to the second floor, the two competing rangers now stood in an open space, with no obvious signs of escape. Seraphim Four was trapped with the only way out being to fight and he knew that would mean to the death if Joe had anything to say about it.
"Sorry to tell you this Xander but it looks like this guy would rather die than tell you anything." Joe said as he charged up his Infinity Saber with red energy as he prepared to strike at four.
Xander looked down through the spaces in the metal wire grid flooring, seeing the progress of the rangers, having disabled several Fallen Angel soldiers. It appeared if this wouldn't be a total loss. "Looks like your friends helped remedy my problem then. Seems I won't need this guy after all. So, whaddaya say we take this murderer down together?" Xander offered.
Joe contemplated it for a moment. "Who knows what this guy might do to try and escape. Can't have that. Sure, let's take him out." Joe nodded as he unleashed the charged attack at Four, forcing the agent's feet back as he barely managed to withstand the force of it.
Having focused entirely on defending that attack, he had very little time to respond as the grey and red rangers moved in on him. Blocking Joe's sword with his synthetic Lightspear, he pushed it away, only for Xander's wrist blades to extend as he struck simultaneously with them. Four jumped back in preparation for the next offensive.
Xander quickly advanced with his blades ready to attack, though Four noticed that with his attack, he had left his guard wide open for a counterattack. Taking the opportunity, Four Spun his Lightspear around and brought it down on Xander in a diagonal slash. Much to Four's surprise, the blade phased right through the grey ranger and struck the ground, giving Xander the opportunity he needed to end this. Retracting his wrist blades, Xander brought his arms to his hips before thrusting them forward and connecting with Four's body as the wrist blades extended and pierced into his vital areas.
Quickly catching up, Joe watched as Xander ruthlessly dispatched Seraphim Four before finally withdrawing his blades. The dying agend staggered back, tripping over a discarded box and falling back into a flimsy crate, breaking it and sitting in the rubble as he slowly bled out.
"We're done here, at this point he's already dead, even if he's still breathing for now. I'd give him about a minute till he's gone. We should head down to your friends, then we can sort out this mess. Huh, you okay?" He asked as he watched Joe as the red ranger looked upon the dying agent silently.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking. If I'd have been the one to do that, I probably would've gone back down the path I did when he'd killed my friend."
"So that's why you were so hellbent on getting this guy. I'd overheard you shouting murderer at him but I didn't know anything more than that." Xander realised, scratching his chin as he thought something over in his head.
"Yeah, thanks Xander, for taking that burden from me. Come on, the others will want to know where I am." Joe said as he started moving off.
From where the bleeding Seraphim Four sat, he weakly raised a hand toward the red ranger. A look of panic and fear spread across his face. "W-Wait…. Please… D-Don't leave me to die al-one. It's dark... I-I'm scared…"
Joe stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the withering agent. Removing his helmet, he stared coldly at Four. "You've earned this, Four." He replied without a hint of remorse. Though this wasn't the same as dealing the death blow himself, he felt relief knowing that Sera's killer wouldn't get to die with anyone around him. He wouldn't get to experience the same thing Sera did in her last moments back then, it was too good for him. With that he placed his helmet back on and departed with Xander to regroup with his friends.
As Four's vision began to grow dark and his eyelids heavy, he almost thought he saw a tall, dark figure looming over him, reaching a crimson hand out. No, surely he was just hallucinating as his body began to shut down. But as his vision turned black for the final time, he thought he saw the figure smile.
[Occult Circle]
Several days had passed since the conflict inside the derelict factory. Once the group had come together, Xander had indeed confirmed that he was indeed from Acumen and explained how he had followed a rogue agent intending to sell secrets to the Underworld's enemies. He thanked them before taking the surviving Fallen Angel soldiers the rangers had detained back with him to the Underworld. Since then, they had no contact with him, until now.
Having met at the Clubroom, Xander now stood among them, now in more human clothing and no longer covering his face with a hood. He only had and average height and build, by the rangers initial impressions of him on the battlefield, he looked to be a completely different person, not threatening at all. He had short black hair and slightly tanned skin, having the look of someone of Mediterranean descent. He had pretty sharp features and amber eyes. His civilian clothing consisted of black jeans, a pair of dark sneakers, a plain white t-shirt and a sporty grey zip-up hoodie.
"I just wanted to say thanks again for your aid in the factory. I'd arrived some time earlier than you all but kept to the shadows to observe and make my move. I might be an assassin but I'm a spy first. That said, even I couldn't take down that many alone. So thanks for your aid there."
"Don't mention it, so this whole spying thing. How much of it includes us?" Ellie asked, giving into her paranoia again.
"Just casual observation, nothing to worry about." He stated as the Vampire he was addressing gave a sigh of relief that it wasn't too much of an invasion of privacy.
"So what does a Spectre from Acumen want with us then? You asked for this meeting after all." Saya asked him, adamant to know.
"After the last operation, my superiors reassigned me. Per my own request. I want to help you all out in defeating the Abyssal Cult. I'd already received the Spectral ring from my superiors for my work so I thought I'd put it to good use until the Cult's defeated. So how about it, give a spy a chance?" He explained as Joe scratched his chin.
"Given how Sera's still stuck as an Integration Harbinger, he could be a good temp at the least." Nyssa pointed out.
"Okay Xander. Let's work together to fight the Cult and keep the peace." Joe said as he offered a hand out to the newest member of the team. Walking over Xander gripped it firmly. "Welcome aboard."
"Glad to be fighting with you all." He replied.
"Alright, I guess that's it for today, head home everyone. Could you stay behind for a minute though Xander?" Joe asked as the others departed, leaving only the two of them in the room.
"What's up?" The grey ranger asked as Joe produced two items from his desk.
"Well if you're gonna be one of us, you'll be needing these." He handed Xander a glowing blue Orbal communication stone and a Pawn Chess piece. "Put them in contact with the gemstone on your ring and it'll absorb them. The stone will let you communicate with the rest of us over long distances, while the Pawn will give you powers in relation to that chess piece." He explained before his tone shifted, becoming more serious. "There's something else. I want your help with a serious matter that'll no doubt interest you. We've got a double agent in our team."
[Occult Circle]
Weeks have gone by since the rangers have recruited Xander into their team. As fights go on in the Earthly realm, in the Underworld a different kind of battle is brewing. One of politics, deception and conspiracy. Within the Vineyard territories of King Virin Satan, master of House Satan, one such conspiracy was about to take place.
Valeflame Palace, Keep of King Satan himself. The palace was brightly lit, bright red flames danced from the chandeliers hanging from the ceilings of the Palace. Rich red and maroon walls and carpets decorated every inch of the building. King Satan was regarded as the most powerful, rich and lavish of the four Underworld Kings. His Palace definitely reflected this.
Inside the grand dining hall of Valeflame, King Satan himself, the greying red Demon King sat at the head of his table with his most trusted advisors and friends while several Demon servants moved around pouring wine for the King and his companions. As they finished and departed the room at the orders of the King himself.
Standing and raising a glass of wine high, the King looked toward an older demon among those seated. "A congratulations friends! To Lord Kokabiel for finally marrying that no good son of his off to Dutchess Mastema's daughter! Here here!" the room erupted into laughter and cheers as those present drank from their glasses before King Satan sat back down.
"Now onto more pressing matters, my friends, like the-the-" The King stuttered as he began to cough, splutter and choke.
The King's companions watched in shock until they too began to succumb to the same affliction. One by one, everyone who had drunk from the wine distributed only a few moments earlier began to collapse and go into a seizure that lasted only seconds as white froth built at their mouths and they finally went still.
At the sounds of commotion an elderly butler with slicked back with hair, a goatee and a monocle burst through the doors, followed quickly by the red armoured soldiers of House Satan who had also heard the commotion.
The butler quickly ran to the King's side. "Master!" He cried out as he looked upon the limp body of the King. "T-The King… is dead…" He said grimly as he looked to the two soldiers accompanying him. With King Satan dead and no heir declared, in but a few moments their Kingdom had gone into a state of disarray. Wars of succession could be fought over this if they weren't careful. But the fact remains, this wasn't a natural death. Someone had assassinated both the King and all of his advisors, a crime of high treason and a crime that most certainly wouldn't go unpunished once the culprit was found.
|Occult Circle|
Supernatural Being - Spectre - A Spectre is in essence a ghost. These are commonly formed when living humans make pacts with Demons for immortality, sometimes even offering entire families to the Service of Lords of the Underworld. These spirits always appear human and can take either a corporeal or incorporeal form at will, making them great for getting into places they otherwise couldn't. Many are used as spies and assassins because of this fact. Being spirits, they are also almost impossible to kill without specialized weapons that can destroy one's very soul…
And that's chapter 32 and an end to the Occult Assassin Arc. It's introduced Xander as the Occult Spectre ranger/grey ranger and is the last ranger I chose from the OC contest. I you didn't see already in the credits at to top, this OC was created by my friend Sir Perfluous. It worked well with the whole secret agent angle I was hoping for with this ranger and I can't wait to get more into his character in the next arc. It also introduced the Cult's stronger troops, the Fallen Angel Footsoldiers, which you'll get to see more of in later chapters. I also decided to finally give Sera's murderer what he deserves and it was a good way to show off Xander's fighting style some more and his ranger form. Finally, seems Joe is getting Xander's help on their spy problem, but I won't spoil what's going on with that till that little sub-plot finally comes to a head.
So for the next Arc, I thought, what better way to follow up an Arc about an assassin ranger than another Arc about the aftermath of an assassination of one of the most powerful people in the Underworld. This is one I've been dying to doe for a while but please excuse my excitement. So this one skips ahead a few weeks too, that's because this plot happens at the same time that the Advent Rangers have their final battle in Advent Horizon. There's a couple of reasons why but what I can say is that it's a minor excuse to keep the Occult rangers away and in the Underworld while that whole thing is happening. That all said thanks for reading and I hope to have more out soon.
Next Chapter: Occult Lineage: Blood Heir
Synopsis: When the Occult rangers accompany Saya to attend the funeral of King Virin, they are approached by the butler of the recently deceased ruler who imparts a request upon them. Find the secret heir of King Satan and find who is responsible for the King and his companions' murders before Satan territory is thrown into chaos. Will they be able to save Satan lands from this plot or will the culprits have other things in mind? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.
