Power Rangers: Steam Force
Ch4: Dark Dealings
A beautiful day dawned upon Vicdon as cargo ships departed and set anchor in the light of dawn. A small biplane whizzed through the air as the golden sunlight blinded the view of the vehicle flying in. Out on the rather busy Sunday morning markets, the six rangers had been granted the day off from their usual routine to enjoy it, per Lucas' suggestion, they had come here, where their green ranger was giving them a personal tour from the perspective of someone who worked on the market stalls himself.
"So, this street is the hub for all of your meat and fish. Don't mind the horrid smell of it, that's usually from Connor's fisheries. Word of advice don't shop there. While he's a friend, he's really bad at preparing fish and it's usually rotten by the time you get it." He informed them as several of the rangers hand a hand to their face to prevent the whiff of the street from invading their nostrils.
"Can we get out of here? The stink is killing my sense of smell." Mia complained as Lloyd and Alex agreed with her.
"I honestly don't know what you guys are talking about. I've been down worse streets before." Ayana chimed into the conversation
"Fine, let's get out of here. I know a shortcut, just down near my old stomping ground. Maybe we'll run into a few of my old buddies too." Lucas finally said as they complained amongst themselves.
The five teens then followed Lucas down a side street and then he turned turned down a back alley. The five stopped and stared at lucas with skeptical looks on their faces. Lucas stopped when he no longer heard footsteps following him. He turned around and shrugged.
"What? We're gonna be perfectly fine, it doesn't look very promising but I assure you that we'll be perfectly safe." As he finished his sentence, someone hiding from around the corner hit the green ranger over the head with a lead pipe, knocking him unconscious.
A young man, dressed in patched up rags and sporting messy black hair came from around the corner. He began to speak as he mocked the unconscious ranger he had knelt down next to.
"Well well well. Looks like I finally found you Lucas. Soon enough we're gonna have a little chat, for now, enjoy your nap. Oh, I didn't see you lot there! Listen, you didn't see anything." He attempted to convince the other five rangers stood before him.
"You just knocked out our friend! We're not letting you go any further with this, right guys!" Lloyd asserted to the young man with the pipe. The others gave nods in confirmation.
"Ooh, I'm so scared." The scoundrel mocked as he flailed his arms in a sort of joking surrender. "How about you all meet my friends then." With a snap of his fingers a group of armed thugs of various ages appeared from behind them and around the corner the young man came from. "Get em boys." He ordered as the gang closed in on the rangers.
"We've thought Terrasoids before, how could this be worse?" Alex toyed, trying to raise their morale while being outnumbered. Then the first hits came.
[Steam Force]
Queen Nyllia sat upon her organic throne in the central chamber of the Terrasoid hive. Thinking to herself in how she could defeat, or at least slow the power rangers down for a bit. She shook her head in failure as nothing was coming to her. A common thing when the mind is distracted by other things. Kivo appeared to be a toddler now. He was walking around, stumbling at times, running at others. In such a hyperactive phase it is wisest to keep an eye on him, even if the young boy is beginning to cause trouble with some of the other Terrasoids.
At times she could see young Kivo stamp on the toes of Stinger and watch him scream out in pain, this resulted in the commander of the Terrasoid forces to chase the young one around till catching him and then the process repeating. Tired of the comedic value in this, the Queen raised her voice to her commander turned child punching bag.
"Stinger, I have need of you!" She called. He immediately obeyed and left the boy alone, then knelt at her throne. "I tire of plotting, bring Kivo to me and then find a monster that we can use against the rangers. And do not fail me!" She commanded. He gave a nod before retrieving the child and placing him in her arms, then leaving. Her tone became softer. "Now then Kivo, I have something special planned for today." She told him as the yellow ring around his pupil glowed brightly.
[Steam Force]
Slowly the darkness drifted from her eyes and Alex woke up. Her surroundings were a lot different than when they began fighting. She was in what appeared to be a derelict warehouse, a rope wrapped around her and she appeared to be tied to someone else too. The young man tied up to the back of her slowly regained consciousness too and looked around him s surroundings. Alex was the first to speak up as she felt a tug on the rope.
"Who is that?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"Alex? Is that you? It's me TJ, what happened?" He asked, not recalling the events of the fight.
"We were in a fight, there were too many of them, we couldn't hold them off and then everything went black. That's all I remember." She explained to him.
"So much for being easier than Terrasoids." TJ joked as the sat on the concrete floor, tied to each other. Their conversation seemed to have caused more in the room to awaken.
Chained to a large barrel further away from them were Lloyd, Ayana and Mia. Ayana was the first to awaken. She looked around and saw the situation she was in and gave a sigh. Then she turned her attention to the other two.
"Looks like we all got a bit unlucky in that fight." She told them.
"We got wiped out by a bunch of scumbags." TJ replied, which made the yellow ranger frown a bit to call them that, even if it was true for some.
"Sure… Oh and remind me never to trust Lucas again if he says it's safe." She finished.
"Speaking of which, where is he?" Mia asked, joining in after waking up, along with Lloyd who was trying to break out of the chains.
"Looks like we're about to find out." Alex nodded to the door as some of the thugs entered carrying old rust shackles.
[Steam Force]
A small biplane touched down upon the runway of Vicdon airport, a less popular form of travel compared to the train station but still in good use in the victorian hive-like city. As the propeller came to a halt, out stepped Welkin Stross, sporting a smooth look on his face and walking tall as he made his way through the streets.
Finally he made it to the operations station and sat down in the office of General Lohan, who had recently shaved off his white beard. Lohan sat at his desk, finishing reading up a report on security modifications to the city. Lohan looked up and closed the report.
"Ah, Mr. Stross, you've returned. Was your mission a success?" He asked surprised at the man's early return.
"I received results. Even better than expected. Your friend created a morpher, originally for another purpose I believe yet he was kind enough to hand it over for use right away since it wasn't currently needed. This is that morpher." Welkin held up his wrist and pulled down his bomber jacket to reveal the wrist brace with its sleek radial piston design. "I've taken to calling it the radial brace." Welkin leaned in close and whispered. "And just between you and me, I call her Vera when nobody's around." He joked before taking his back to the seat once more.
"I must extend my gratitude to the doctor soon then. I suppose since you're wearing it, that means you've decided to keep it. While I'd prefer to choose the wearer of such a weapon, you'll have to do. Welcome aboard." Lohan congratulated.
"Yes, thanks. Now there is one thing. You see being a cargo pilot, I still have to work, therefore I'll be a ranger when you need it, not all of the time. Deal?" Stross informed Lohan who was stunned by what he was saying. "I'm a businessman first Lohan, you must understand."
"I do, welcome aboard, I trust we can count on you." Lohan shook Stross' hand as they agreed on the terms of their arrangement. "Now I need you on alert in case a Terrasoid shows up. The rangers went silent a while ago on their day off. I'm sure it's nothing but just be ready.
"This is just like when I went to Castelan, why do these rangers keep taking breaks." Welkin sighed. "Not to worry, I've got it covered. Come on Vera." He told the morpher as he headed out humming another tune.
[Steam Force]
Lucas was tied to an office chair in a room above the warehouse with a stairwell just in front of the window, it was likely the manager's office. He attempted to break free of his restraints yet he was unsuccessful. That was when he heard the door open and footsteps behind him. His kidnapper turned to face him and Lucas gave a frown.
"Max. I should've known. An ambush like that is your kind of thing. So, now that you have me, care to explain why you kidnapped me?" He asked,still attempting to free himself of his restraints.
Max gave out a small chuckle. "It's not just you that I've kidnapped, I also took your friends too. Don't believe me? Take a look." He informed the green ranger as he wheeled him over to the window, overlooking the factory floor.
Down below were a group of thugs, at their feet were the other five rangers. On their knees, shackles around their wrists. An angry look came across Lucas' face. He struggled against his bindings once more.
"Let them go now Max!" Lucas yelled as he pushed against the restraints.
"No, no, no. You don't understand, I plan to ransom off the important ones, such as blue and red over there. I might decide to keep your friend in white in my possession,I like the look of her. The rest of your friends, well, I already have a buyer. For now, I have a meeting with a pilot to ship me some goods. I assure you'll keep quiet right." Max explained with an evil expression on his face.
Lucas seethed in anger. "We aren't objects that you can trade and sell. You won't get away with this!" He yelled once again as Max left.
Once his captor did, Lucas pushed against the rope keeping hi there again, with great force, he heard the backrest of the chair crack and he was free. He pulled the rope off him and opened the door and started down the walkway. His friends had been moved and the group of thugs were dealing with a man in a brown bomber jacket.
[Steam Force]
Five minutes earlier, Welkin Stross was walking through the port district of the city on his way to meet with a client. Then abruptly, the inbuilt communicator in the radial brace went off. He held it up to his face and spoke.
"What's up Lohan?" He asked as a worried voice came in.
"We know where the rangers are. From what we took of the camera feed in that district, they've been kidnapped. The warehouse they've been kept in thanks to the info on the tracking devices is on the Praetor boulevard. You can't miss it." He informed the ranger.
"I was just there to do business, what're the chances. Looks like I'll be making a different kind of deal with them today." Welkin told Lohan. "I'll head there now." Stross finished as he cut off the communicator and made his way there at running speed.
[Steam Force]
Lucas made his way down the ramp and came into the view of the grunts. He called out his former friend with a rageful voice. "MAX! It's time to end this!"
The man in the bomber jacket, revealed to be Welkin Stross stepped up. "That's all I needed." He told himself eying the morpher on the other ranger's hand. "Max, we're gonna have to stop doing business from now on, kidnapping isn't good." He then turned to Lucas. " Hey, kid, you wanna show them who they're messing with?" Stross asked with a knowing smirk before flashing his radial brace.
Lucas stepped beside the older ranger. "Sure. Ready?"
"Ready." He confirmed lifting up his arm. "Radial brace…. Ready for takeoff!" Stross called as he was encased in a bright white light.
"Full Steam Ahead!" Lucas called as he was covered with a white light and then was covered by steam.
Lucas stood in his Steam Force outfit while stross wore a similar outfit to him, just in a different style. It composed of a silver suit with black pants, black arrows pointing upwards along the arms, the radial brace rested on his right arm. Upon his chest was the emblem of a propeller, around his waist was a belt with the same radial design as the morpher. Attached to both his arms, by the wrist, were wing styled blades. His helmet's visor was a V shape and the helmet had a shutter mouthguard that seemed to be like a vent. On the sides of his helmet were vertical wings with aerodynamic positioning. Attached to his belt was a holster which housed a large revolver. It had pipes sprouting from the back and had two thin wings coming out of the side of it, the handle of the pistol was designed to look like an eagle's wing.
Lucas looked at the ranger suit impressed. "Nice outfit, what ranger team are you from?" He asked.
"Yours." Welkin replied as they headed into hand to hand combat.
He used his wing vambrace blades to slash the more brutish enemies while Lucas summoned his pipeblade and beat the lower members of the gang. Soon enough, Max was the only one left. As Welkin finished the last thug, Lucas spoke up.
"You get the others, Max is mine." He ordered, Welkin gave a nod and ran into another room where fighting began to occur. "It's over Max, you're done."
"Oh no, don't say that, the fun is just beginning. Take a look yourself." Max pointed behind the green ranger who turned to see a group of drones following a bipedal cricket monster. "That's my buyer for your friends, I prefer not to stick around though, so I'll be off." Max smirked as he ran off through another exit.
"Max! Get back here!" Lucas yelled, yet he was not responsive. Lucas turned back around "Guess you'll just have to do." He told the Terrasoids.
The other six rangers soon joined Lucas and they turned their attention to the enemy before them. The five unmorphed stood in formation with the two other rangers at either side of them.
"Full Steam Ahead!" They all called as they underwent their morph, engulfed in white light before being covered in steam. The seven stood ready.
1-0-1… Shipping… Pipeblade… Arriving
The armed rangers then proceeded to slash through the drones. As they did, welkin faced off against the bipedal cricket. Using his vambrace blades, he wore the monster down, slowly taking away the strength of it. The rangers finished their opponents off and looked on at Welkin and his fighting form.
"I think that's enough of this close quarters crap. Time to face may Sky Striker Pistol!" Welkin pulled out the blaster and knocked back the monster He held the pistol up and began charging a powerful burst. "Sky Strike Overcharge!" He yelled squeezing the trigger. A powerful silver energy burst came from the weapon and collided with the monster, obliterating it. Then the dark spores emerged and grew it to super size.
"Let us deal with it!" Lloyd told the silver clad ranger, who simply shook his head.
"I want to show off a little bit more if that's okay with you. There's another button on my morpher which I haven't tried yet. If you'll excuse me." Stross put his hand to the button and pressed it down with force. "Activating Wing Straffer!" He announced as he jumped up high only to land in a large plane. "Wow, this is like an NA-98X! Stross told himself, sounding impressed. The Zord was large and appeared to be a outfitted for bombing runs. "No time to see what this baby can do!" Stross enthused as he pulled the levers, heading to face the monster.
It flew over the titanic cricket and it's hatch doors opened up. "Time for you to feel the force." Welkin remarked as a large set of bombs dropped from the hatch and lit up the monster, incinerating it and turning it to nothing but ash. Once it had settled, welkin disembarked and joined the other rangers who were amazed that they had such a powerful ally and congratulated the new ranger.
[Steam Force]
The rangers sat with their new teammate talking and learning about him and his many adventures. Then Lohan walked up to the lounging rangers.
"Well done Stross. You are powerful indeed. While it pains me that you won't be here all of the time, at least we can count on you when it matters. As for the rest of you, let this be a warning. Some places in Vicdon are dangerous, tread lightly." He told them before turning and leaving.
"And with that rangers, I must be off. I have another delivery to make. I'm sure we'll meet again in the future, but for now. It is farewell." Welkin got up and started walking out. "But just know that I'll be by your sides when you need it friends." He finished as he exited the building and started humming another tune as he walked.
|Steam Force|
That is the fourth installment over and done with. Welkin proved to be a powerful ally, though he won't always be there to help them. And Lucas' 'friend' was going to trade most of the rangers over to the terrasoids to make a quick buck. Lucas will no doubt wait for Max's return.
Now that's over, anyone anticipating Martial Strike, I had to remain impartial to the whole thing going on over there and people are desperately anticipating word from me on the next instalment. I have begun work on that chapter already and it will be coming out in the week. So, anyone who reads Martial Strike, could you relay the message that it's coming out later in the week. Now onto the next chapter synopsis.
Next Chapter: Just a poor Girl
Synopsis: Another character focus. This time it focuses on Steam Force Yellow, Ayana. The rangers find out about her loathing for the rich of the city and this makes some of the rangers uncomfortable. Can they stay as a team or will the prejudice of an underprivileged young woman force them apart and cause chaos? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Steam Force
