Chapter Four:

Reunited

Doug and Harriet reunited in the loading bay of the brand-new Ranger Base that had been built in the rangers' down time. "How did Dayton go?" Harriet asked, once their hug had broken apart.

"Dayton was great," Doug said. "He's here now, checking out the base's mess hall."

Harriet grinned. "Naturally," she said.

"What about Josh? How did that go."

"He was good." Harriet had an odd look on her face, and glanced around to make sure they were alone. "I've got something to tell you," she whispered. She nodded to a couple of seats nearby. "You might want to sit down for this one."

Doug looked at her quizzically, but followed her over. Once they had sat down, Harriet filled him in on Joshua and Katie's living arrangements.

"He's living in her house?" he said, a little too loudly.

Harriet shushed him. "Kind of," she said. "In an apartment over her garage."

"For how long?"

"Ever since they left service."

Doug's eyes widened. "Are they dating?" he asked.

"Not as far as I could tell. But they did seem really awkward around each other."

"Interesting." Doug rubbed at his chin, considering the possibility. As he thought, another idea occurred to him. "That is an interesting idea, though," he said.

Harriet glanced up at him. "What is?"

"Adjoining apartments." He leaned forward. "Have you thought any more about what you want to do when you leave service?"

Harriet shook her head and fiddled with one of her frizzy curls. "No," she said. "My parents have ideas, but . . . it's the main reason I've stuck around so long. I have no idea what to do with myself outside of EAGLE."

Doug shook his head. "Me neither," he said. "I'm supposed to go back to school. Major in something. I don't know. But when we do, the two of us should totally get an adjoining apartment or something."

Harriet raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. We could still hang out every day. We wouldn't have to game online or video chat to talk to each other, we'd just hang in each other's living room."

Harriet thought about it for a second. "Then I wouldn't have to move back home with my parents," she said. "And I wouldn't have to try to make all new friends just so I won't be lonely."

"See," Doug said. "It'd be great."

Harriet bobbed her head, warming up to the idea. "Yeah, that'd be awesome," she said. "We've got to talk more about this. Next time we're off, we need to go looking online for duplexes or something."

"What's this?"

Dayton walked into the loading bay, carrying yet another large bowl of rice and curry. He sat down beside them and gave them a curious look. "You're buying a duplex?"

Both Doug and Harriet suddenly felt hot in the face. "Well, not exactly," Doug said. "We were just . . . talking about something."

Dayton gave them one more curious look before shrugging and digging into his food. "So," he said. "When's everyone else supposed to get here?"

"Josh and Katie are on their way," Harriet said. "They just had to take care of some things. Peggy—"

"Peggy's here."

A bright pink Power Ranger flew into the loading bay, carrying a large pack over her shoulder. She landed hard, deposited the bag on the ground, and tapped the morpher at her wrist, deactivating the suit and turning back into regular old Peggy Madison.

Dayton grinned. "Peggy," he said, setting aside his meal. He got up and pulled her into a big bear hug. Peggy looked surprised at first, taken aback by the sudden show of affection, but let it continue, patting him awkwardly on the back. "I missed you too, Dayton."

Dayton let her go and stepped back, letting her greet Doug and Harriet too. "How come you got to keep your morpher?" he asked, nodding at the device on her wrist.

"Oh, this?" she said, holding it up for him to see. "I stayed with EAGLE. We've been using it for a special project." She looked around the loading bay. "So, where's the captain?" she asked.

"He's coming," Harriet said. "He's—"

She stopped as the distinct sound of a motorcycle filled the air. "I think that's him now, actually."

The crew headed to the ramp and looked out to see a bright headlight coming toward them. It came closer and closer, two figures taking shape on the back of the bike. The crew stepped back to make room as the bike hit the ramp and rode it up into the middle of the bay, coming to a quick stop. The driver got off, removing his helmet to reveal Joshua Cage, still bearded, but much better groomed than he'd been at the zoo. His companion pulled off her own helmet to reveal the smiling face of Katie Young. "Hey, guys," she said.

Doug and Peggy said their hellos to Katie as Dayton pulled Joshua into a big hug just like Peggy. "I missed you, buddy!" the yellow ranger said.

Josh smiled. "It's good to see you too, Dayton." He glanced up at Peggy, his smile quickly fading. "Agent Madison," he said.

"Captain Cage," Peggy said, a scowl on her face.

Joshua cleared his throat and stepped over to the pink ranger. "I hope we can leave the past in the past, and work together," he said, extending his hand.

Peggy eyed the hand for a moment. "We will see," she said, declining to shake it. Joshua let it hang in the air for a moment before dropping it awkwardly.

"Right," he said, looking around at his friends. "Looks like we almost have the whole team back together again. Except Sean, of course."

"And Kenny," Peggy said.

Joshua looked at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Right," he said. "And Kenny."

Doug looked between the two, feeling the tension in the air. "Well," he suggested, "If the Pharaoh Mask is trying to open another portal, maybe Kenny will come through first, and then we can shut it down before anyone else."

Joshua and Peggy looked at him. Their faces softened and they relaxed their stances. "Yeah, maybe," Joshua said.

Peggy looked away, but didn't seem quite as confrontational any more.

"So," Dayton said, "where's General Kenpachi at, since we're all here?"

"He and Tammy are getting things ready in the command center," Harriet said. "This way."

She and Doug led the team into the base and straight to a large circular room in the very center. The room was filled with all the best technology EAGLE could fill it with, with heavy armor plating the walls, floors, and ceiling. In the center of the room, a circle of ten consoles were clearly marked one through ten, Stations One and Three both with a morpher attached.

"Alright," Dayton said, going straight to Station Three and detaching the yellow morpher. "I have missed this thing so much."

Joshua likewise went straight to Station One and picked up his own morpher.

"Welcome to our new home," General Kenpachi said, getting up from Station Six where he had been working, Tammy two seats over. They both came around and greeted their old teammates, shaking hands and giving hugs all around. "Please," the general said, gesturing to the console. "Take a seat. Each of you has a designated station. The rangers are the first five, in the order you joined us. So, Captain Cage, you'll take One here."

He patted his own seat that he had just vacated. "I am Station Six. Young, Hayes, and Nixon, you'll be Seven, Eight, and Nine respectively, and Cummins, you'll take the end seat at Ten."

"Nice," Doug said, going straight to his station. Harriet took the seat beside him, and they grinned at each other. One by one, everyone took their seat, Joshua on Doug's other side, until only Station Two and Five were empty.

General Kenpachi tapped on his own console and it immediately sprang to life, projecting images of the Pharaoh Mask, Doctor Kuchar, and the blue ranger into the air between them. "I assume you've all been briefed on the situation?" he asked.

The three rangers nodded their assent. "Do we know where they are?" Peggy asked.

"Yes," Tammy said, pulling up a map of the world with a big red blip somewhere over Europe. "Sean's suit's tracker is still active, and it doesn't seem to have been touched. Either the Pharaoh Mask doesn't know about it, or he wants to be found. They've been all over the world in the last two days."

She tapped on her console and brought up the image of five familiar colorful gemstones. "If you remember the five stones the Iron Mask and his legion had been collecting, they seem to have visited every single location where one of those gems was found, and, even more concerning, they are now currently headed for Vienna, Austria, the location of the top security base where those gems are currently being kept."

"So, they're probably going after them," Katie said.

"We believe so," General Kenpachi said. He tapped around on his console, making the image of Sean zoom in. "We're all aware of Sean's capabilities, I presume. Even if his enhancements are fully operational, I am hopeful that between the three of you, we'll be able to overpower him."

He tapped again, and Sean shrank back down, the mummy Khamun taking his place. "This individual is our main concern. At this moment, we do not know the full extent of his abilities, but at least three have been observed. He seems to have a database inside his mask that feeds him information on everything and everyone he encounters, even very sensitive information. We suspect it was created and installed by the Fuhrer prior to his departure last year.

"He was also able to detect, activate, and take control of the enhancements inside of Sean Cassidy's body, all apparently with the mere touch of his fingers. Finally, he wields this scepter." Kenpachi pulled up an image of the skull-topped scepter Khamun had used, its eyes embedded with jewels. "It is capable of firing a beam from its eyes, which will rapidly decay anything it touches. The jewel in his chest is also the same gem that spawned the first wormhole. We do not know if it still carries that capacity, but it is considered dangerous and should be treated as such. Everyone understood?"

"Yes, sir," the team said.

"Good," Kenpachi said. "Now—"

A call beeped on his console. Kenpachi flipped a switch there and said, "Kenpachi."

"Sir," an operative's voice said. "The enemy has been detected in the airspace over the Vienna base."

"Understood, lieutenant," Kenpachi said. "Get ready for takeoff."

"Yes, sir."

The intercom switched off. "I think we had best get started as soon as possible," the general said, looking around the room.

"Agreed," Peggy said, getting to her feet and redoing the strap on her morpher. Joshua and Dayton did the same. "I assume we're headed to a hangar now?"

The circular room around them suddenly bumped, sending the three rangers stumbling to the floor.

"What was that?" Katie said, likewise thrown for a loop.

Doug, Tammy, and Harriet all grinned at each other. "Didn't you notice when we came in?" Harriet asked. "We're already on a ship."

The room continued to rumble, feeling like they were rising high into the air. Tammy pulled up an image showing the outside of the base they had just entered. What had seemed to be merely an odd architectural choice was now rising from the ground, disconnecting from the rest of the base in the form of a large airship. Turbines started to spin and wings folded out in all five ranger colors.

Dayton's eyes grew wide. "It's just like the Hurricane," he said.

General Kenpachi smirked. "Sort of," he said. "Except much bigger and far more advanced. Say hello, Ranger Team, to the Tempest."

The Tempest soon left the ground far behind. The rangers and Katie quickly got back into their seats and braced themselves as the airship shot forward in the direction of Vienna, Austria.