A: N: Sorry this story is taking so long, especially on the updates. I ran into a hardcore writers block. If it wasn't for the people who had me on author favorites, the reviews, and story alert I don't think I would have found the motivation to work on the story again. Thank you! Please review, it keeps me motivated.
PR 9: The Battle
Walking down to the river gave Kimberly some time to think, mostly about life in the Special Forces. It made her remember her parents and what she was doing for them. More than anything she wanted to see The Dark Ones destroyed once and for all, than and only than she would be able to be her own person. The contract she signed would finally be finished. Thinking about what to do after this mission was completed made her pause in her steps. She was dumbfounded. For the past several years all she could think about was get out and away from it all. The pain, the anger, Kimberly just wanted it all to end. Now with her mission getting more dangerous she didn't know what to think. It began to seem all pointless and mindless to her. All the deaths she had taken, Kimberly had not done anything to make up for it.
Kimberly felt her mind travel back against her will to the countless missions she had been on, especially the Dark Ones which had shaped her future and her personality. She couldn't stop herself from pondering about the lives she had taken or permanently ruined. The fact she's rarely ever saved the lives of others never bothered her until now. Thinking about starting a new life where she was in the medical field might pay back some of lives taken by her, brought a rare smile to her lips. The army had promised her when she left they would pay for everything, despite letting go one of their finest. Kimberly's face grimaced at the thought, knowing the army there was probably a condition attached to it. Looking up to the sky for answers to all the problems she noticed the sun was almost completely down. Like a switch being turned on her face went blank and her eyes went dark like there was no humanity left. With a brisk walk she resumed her trip to the river. There was going to be hell to pay tonight and there would be justice done if her informant was correct.
"Ok, guys. We have two choices. One is to go to the river and see what's up or we can wait to see if we are going to be called." Tommy addressed the rangers. Following the call from Kimberly he had immediately called his best friend, Jason, to see what he would advise. Jason's advice would be to call the Rangers together and tell them what's been going on and who the mysterious person they had seen the other day was. No one was really surprised to hear that it was Kimberly.
The Rangers looked at each other before Jason spoke, "How much do you trust the new Kim? Its something we should consider."
Running a hand through his thick hair Tommy replied. "Despite Kim's recent behavior, I trust what she is saying. There is nothing for her to gain."
"I still don't know if we should trust the information," Kat spoke up softly. "She tried to kill you the last time we met in battle. What about if things turn nasty, can we trust her not to hurt us?"
"She could have killed me last time and she didn't, instead I had her when we morphed away." Tommy didn't actually know if this was true or not, but at least the old Kimberly would have stopped in time. "Even though Kimberly's changed doesn't change the facts. There's going to be an important meeting tonight, and I fore one want to end it. I'm tired of showing up late and the battles almost done. If we can put a stop to some of the things that are happening than it would be worth going down there. If we don't show up and something happens I would regret it."
"I'm all for going, but we should go already morphed and stay in the background." Billy spoke up.
"I'm in. As long as we stay in the background and stay together, I want to see what's going to happen before we do anything." Trini softly spoke up from the corner of the room.
"Ok, so Trini," Tommy turned and nodded in her direction, "and Billy is in." He turned and looked at Zack, "Zack, Jason, Kat are you in?" They all nodded back towards him. We are going to follow Billy's advice tonight. Morph before we leave and stay out of it until we are needed. If it turns out to be nothing, we will come back here and regroup. Remember the moves we have been working on and stay together if it turns nasty. Let's go change into some dark clothing, nothing bright. We will meet up here in fifteen minutes and leave then. It's time to get the show on the road."
By the time she had arrived at the river it was completely dark with no moon in the sky. Staying hidden in the shadows from the street lamps that lined the river Kimberly could hear a large group nearby. Walking a little bit further she could see the group, doing a quick estimate she numbered the amount of people to be there over a hundred. It was the largest group of The Dark Ones she had seen so far. There was a small podium with a trailer behind it, set up towards the front of the crowd. Slowly she made her way there while keeping an eye out for the Rangers.
A speaker took the podium and started speaking. With her mind on reaching the podium she wasn't paying attention to what was being said. It would be too obvious if she took the direct path to the front, instead she went around the crowd to the back of the podium. Standing in the shadows saw two men standing under the light talking, staying in the shadows Kimberly crept closer to where she could hear the two men speaking. They were much like night and day. One had blond hair, the other black hair. Both body types were the same medium height, muscular build. She classified them as Blondie and Blackie.
"We need to do a raid on the town soon," Blondie was saying. "The Rangers and that girl need to be found and terminated."
Blackie stroked a hand over his chin, "I agree with you but the mayor may not be so willing."
"If we pay him enough, he will let us do almost anything. The old man is greedy and would sell his own children for money if he could get away with it."
"Still it may not work and will shake the town up too much. We don't want to upset the wrong people"
"While I agree with you, the only person that matters is the commander and he wants the girl no matter what. She's been a thorn in his side for way too long. Hopefully this rally will gather more people to our cause. Eventually we will have everyone in Angel Grove under our command. Our numbers will be large and we can take over and make the US a communist country." The two men turned back their attention back to the current speaker.
"Not in this lifetime," Kimberly swore silently to herself. Doing a double check to make sure the two guys wouldn't be noticed if they were missing, she silently crept up on Blondie while releasing her knives from their arm sleeves.
All of the Rangers arrived well after the meeting had started. Hanging in the back of the crowed to get a feel for what was going on, they were hardly noticed. Jason looked around noticing there were several armed people walking around the crowd trying to fit in. Most of the Power Rangers were to his right with Tommy to his left. Several feet in front of them began the large crowd. "Tommy, I don't know if this is still a good idea," he leaned over and whispered to him. "Besides I don't see Kim."
"We stay. There is information here that we will need to know in the upcoming weeks. And we both know we won't see Kim unless she wants us to see her." Like Jason Tommy had also seen the guards and was trying to calculate how many there was. "For now Jason, we need to listen to what is being said. There still is so much that we do not know about the Dark Ones and we have been fighting them for over five years. If it wasn't for Kim, we would still be calling them the New Evil."
Trini walked over to both of them, "Have you guys been listening to what is being said?"
"No," Jason replied, "I've been checking out what is going on and looking for faces we might know."
"Same here," Tommy added, "I've been looking at the totaled of armed guards walking around. What have they been saying?"
"Nothing but what everyone wants to hear. I'm thinking this is recruitment. We should do something to stop it."
"Remember Jason, Trini we stay in the background. No morphing unless it's necessary."
Just as soon as Tommy uttered those words a security guard approached them. "Excuse me guys, you need to move closer. We can't have stagers standing in the back due to security concerns."
Tommy looked at the guy and assessed him. He was taller than Tommy, high muscle mass, most of it in his arms. "Sorry, sir, but we want to stay here."
"I'm afraid I must insist."
"Ok, than if you insist we will be leaving." Tommy made a motion to gather the group. They were here for information, nothing else.
"You're not allowed to leave until the meeting is over."
Zach hearing this took a step forward, "No way man, we are out of here."
The guard stood his ground crossing his arms over his chest, "You can't leave until you are sworn in,"
"Not in this lifetime," Billy spoke up. "Five of us to your one, good odds I say. Nothing you can do about it."
The guard smiled, a big toothy smile, "Oh, really? Watch me make you stay," He reached over and made the mistake of grabbing Kats arm. He pulled her close.
Jason didn't think, only reacted by throwing a right fist into the guards face. A scream from the guard alerted the other guards and before the Rangers knew it, they were fighting to get out of there.
Her knives in her hands Kimberly approached Blondie from behind. Making not a sound, she quickly reached up and slashed his throat. His companion alerted by the gurgle of Blondie dieing turned and barely missed his throat being slashed.
"Damn," Kim swore aloud, "Come here you big hulking piece of junk."
Blackie took at fighting stance and came at her full force putting Kim on defense. The first blow to her arm sent numbness from the elbow down on her right arm; the second took her in the upper shoulder knocking her to the ground. It was too quick for her to prepare before falling.
At impact the breath knocked from her, she took a second too long in trying to recuperate gave the guard time to knock off her hat and grab her ponytail. As he was lifting her up from the ground he made the mistake of forgetting about Kim's knives. Quickly Kim slashed the brute's arms and when he let out a howl of pain other guards noticed the fight. In the process he dropped her, only this time she was ready and landed on her feet. As the guard was holding his arms, Kim finished him off and got ready to face the oncoming guards.
"Morph, everyone before it's too late. There are too many people here." Tommy shouted at the group. Without hesitation each one of them, except for Tommy who was holding off the enemies, shouted out their morphing codes. A new fresh wave of armed guards came at them just as they finished morphing. Tommy didn't have time to morph like the others. "Guys, get out of here, scatter. We'll meet up at the command center." He shouted between throwing punches and kicking.
"We're not leaving you, Tommy." Zach shouted back just as he took down another guard. "We'll stay and get out of here together."
"I'm pulling rank. Go, I'll follow, The Rangers took one last look at Tommy after they finished their opponents and made a run for it. Tommy turned to follow never seeing a guard come up behind him. He felt the blow to his hand, fell to his knees, and then collapsed on his stomach. Vision blurred he saw the guard smash his morph control while it was still on his wrist. Next thing he knew was darkness.
Kimberly was getting tired; so far she had killed at least three and seriously wounded seven more. So far this was the biggest fight yet in the five years she had been doing this. For every person that fell there were five more to take the place of the first. She was surrounded with no way out. Unlike the first two who didn't have time to pull out a weapon each of the new comers had knives and batons on them.
One mistake and Kim knew it would be over. Sweat was pouring down her forehead and stinging her eyes. A female guard came up and threw a right kick towards Kim's middle. Not thinking Kim took the knife in her right hand and slashed under her attacker's leg. Seeing an opening in Kim's defense another guard with a baton slammed it into her head. Kim fell to the ground in darkness never knowing if her knife made contact.
