Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author of this piece would like to state that 90 percent of the characters featured here are properties of BVS Entertainment Inc and not that of the author. 10 percent of the characters featured here are original creations of the author.
Also, the author understands that this piece automatically negates events that occur any and all PR incarnations that occur after Power Rangers Wild Force; hence no Dino Thunder or Ninja Storm is featured here and hence Tommy is not a doctor of anything. This is an AU, so to speak. Just thought we should be clear on that.
Note: Early posting, Part 7 should be up on Wednesday. Enjoy (and review).
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Cole Evans, Jason Lee Scott, and Thomas Oliver watched a B-movie production in the theatre room of Thomas' house, stuffing themselves with popcorn. The pathetic special effects, cheesy costumes, unconvincing acting, and other low-budget intricacies of the production were the cause of much laughter from the three Rangers. Cole almost spitted out his soda when the so-called alien invaders, short men with green make-up and a couple of horns (popsicle sticks) stuck on their foreheads, finally revealed their evil plan to take over Earth by giving everyone bad haircuts with their Hair Beam. Jason seemed amused yet disappointed at the final battle, which featured paper airplanes shooting "laser beams" at various Lego buildings being ripped apart by human hands. However, just as the movie was about to reach its ending, it was interrupted with a red screen saying "Special News Report" in bold white letters.
"No," Cole said amusedly, "No way I'm getting fooled twice!"
"Shut up, rookie." Jason said seriously, "This looks real."
The report showed a female reporter standing in front of a raging wall of fire. Loud explosions and crumbling sounds, as well as various screams, is heard in the background. Cole's smile faded into a deep frown, his eyes affixed to the explosions in the background.
"For those who received this report now," she began as the Rangers watched, "there is a massive firefight in the weapons depot in Stone Canyon, where top-secret weapons of global destruction. Word is that the military forces stationed here are fighting some kind of armored monster."
Cole's jaw dropped at the mention of the word 'monster'. Both Jason and Thomas understood what that meant: the second Varox was engaging military forces in a nuclear weapons depot.
"We should get there," Cole blurted out.
Thomas shot that idea down. "We'd never get there in time."
---
The Varox was held at bay by weapons fire from the soldiers. The Varox managed a couple of his own shots that knocked down or vaporized three soldiers at best, but could not get a clear shot. Then it occurred to him; there are nuclear weapons in the other room.
The head soldier appointed by Admiral Harris noticed that the bounty hunter was running into the nuclear depot. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" he commanded, "YOU'LL HIT THE FRICKIN' NUKES!" The others stopped shooting. The soldier, wanting this situation to be handled carefully, ordered his men to aid in the evacuation of Stone Canyon. "If the nukes go off," he explained, "I want more people alive than dead."
The soldier ran after the hunter while the rest ran out. The room had various nuclear missiles and warheads stored here. The fact that one small spark can set these things off made chasing the hunter much more difficult. After a moment of searching, he found the bounty hunter standing in front of a big metal box marked "NUKUSAL" in red bold letters.
The Varox, beneath his mask, smiled, "You managed to find me, human. I'm impressed."
"Impressing you is the last thing I'm gonna do, freak!" the soldier taunted, although he was scared out of his pants.
"Yes, it IS the last thing," the Varox said, "that you or anyone else on this planet is going to be doing soon!"
The soldier aimed his blaster at the hunter. The hunter laughed, "Are you actually dedicated to shooting me with that toy blaster?" The soldier didn't flinch.
"Tell me something," the Varox asked with a fiendish tone, obviously aware of the soldier's nervousness, "do you really want to risk an entire city's well-being for one shot at me? Don't you know that this bomb will destroy everything and be the catalyst for the master plan?"
---
"Master plan?" Admiral Gordon Harris heard the soldier ask through the hidden transmitter that was working perfectly, "what master plan?"
Several members of the Lightspeed core group, including Task Force Admiral Harris, Lightspeed Rescue Commander Carter Grayson, Lightspeed military General Kory Membla, Lightspeed Ranger leader Chad Lee, and other scientists were surrounding the radio receiver. They heard a muffled laugh, presumably from the Varox bounty hunter that they has spent a great deal of time searching for. Carter, not forgetting about the "other party" involved, has a live radio feed linked to Thomas Oliver's control center, which was being heard by Oliver, Jason Lee Scott and Cole Evans. Thomas, of course, gave transmitted that feed over to Silver Guardians leaders Wes Collins and Eric Myers in Silver Hills, whom listened to the events unfolding through a specialized radio receiver specially retrofitted by Time Force to clean up any static that may result in the breakdown of transmission.
---
The soldier aimed his blaster at the hunter's mask. This did nothing but incite a laugh from the hunter.
"Since you're going to die anyway," the hunter said, "it won't matter if I tell you that we're preparing this world for the Wraith, the ultimate weapon."
---
In the city limits, the roads are filled with military trucks, common automobiles, armored tanks, and running soldiers. Because of the minor inconsistencies, vehicles were moving slowly. Various officers were directing traffic, but many people were too scared that they abandoned their vehicles on the road and simply ran. A riot was about to occur at the dawn of potential destruction.
---
The Varox stood proudly near the NUKUSAL container. If the soldier could see his face, he probably was smiling devilishly. Suddenly, the Varox approached the soldier slowly, promptly the man to raise his weapon, aiming it at the hunter's head. The Varox stopped when he was almost face to face with the soldier.
"I know about your hidden transmitter," the Varox said, causing a slight sting in the soldier, "if you are listening to me, here is my demand; let me leave with this Nukusal and I will spare the city."
The soldier was visibly shaken, but he didn't scream or whimper. In fact, it almost seems as if he wants to blast the Varox's head off at point blank range. Then again, the Varox could easily dodge the bullet, hit a nuke, and blow the city up.
---
The officials within the room argued as whether to answer his demands or reject it. Decision is split fifty-fifty, but only one man has the final say on the matter. Carter listened to all opinions, but it didn't change the fact that he was left with a decision and a heavy burden. He had considered the consequences of what could happen if he went one way or another. On the one hand, handing that Varox a weapon of mass destruction means committing many lives to die in the near-future. On the other hand, declining the Varox and causing a firefight will result in one of the nukes going off and wipe out the city, which is still filled with people.
"We should bring this up to the defense secretary," General Membla said, breaking Carter from his train of thought, "He should be dealing with this sort of thing."
"That's usually the procedure with this sort of thing," Harris stated, "but this is an alien threat. A ticking time bomb that can and will go off at any second. This situation demands immediate action!"
"We would still need authorization from the federal government before we can go with a decision of this magnitude," one of the low-level general said, "Alien or not, he's just a petty terro-"
Membla raised a finger, silencing the general, "Don't. Say. It."
"Give him what he wants. Now."
The reluctant words of Carter Grayson had caused the room full of bickering officials to be silent. Out of all the options they were bickering over, Carter gave the one option none of them had brought up, either because it never occurred to them or because they just didn't want to bring them up. Carter knew that there would be no other viable option except for that one, as much as he hated to admit.
"But, sir," one of the generals said, "shouldn't we get authorization from-?"
"Give. Him. What. He. Wants." Carter's words were cold and calculating. "I'll deal with the higher ups when this is over, just let him have the damned Nukusal."
The general closest to the comm system studied Carter's facial expression for a moment before reluctantly giving orders of surrender to the soldier at the base. Carter squinted his eyes and hung his head as he began to regret the decision he made, even if he felt there was no other viable option. He heard the sickening laughter of the bounty hunter through the speakers followed by a whooshing sound that he registered as a teleport, but Carter heard the laughter in his head briefly.
Behind him, Admiral Harris approached Carter and stood for a moment. When Carter raised his head to face the admiral, Harris gave a half-smile. "No matter what happens, and I swear to God, something will happen, I'm behind you two-hundred percent." He saluted Carter and left the room. Membla approached Carter and gave an assuring nod.
"You know, Grayson," Membla said, "Both your image and Lightspeed Rescue's image is going to take a huge tumble if this whole plan goes wrong."
Carter shrugged. "Kory, our image isn't going to tumble any farther than it already has." As he mentioned those words, his thoughts veered to something else. How will the other Rangers see this?
---
The soldier, unable to believe what he has heard, lowered his gun and told the Varox hunter that the weapon is his. The Varox nodded and turned away. In a quick instant, the soldier felt the full brunt of a hard right fist across the jaw and was knocked out. The Varox approached the Nukusal and placed a round metal object on it. Pressing a button on his wrist device, both the Varox and the bomb disappeared in a flash of light.
---
The radio feed on the transmitter was abruptly cut off, and neither Wes nor Eric could make sense of the events that have just occurred. Without saying a word, both men looked at each other, nodded, and stopped their SUV to the side of the driveway to check their equipment. When both were done, they resumed their drive down the driveway.
---
Thomas Oliver couldn't believe what happened. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Jason noticed his friend's blank state as Cole stared ahead at the viewer. "Tom?" he asked. Thomas didn't say anything for a while until the transmission ended.
"Jason," he said in a low, shocked tone, "That son of a bitch just handed the Varox the key to the end of the world."
Neither Jason nor Cole gave an answer. But they stared in disbelief as his best friend got up and stormed out towards the heavy duty door.
"When the dipshit gets over here, let me know," Thomas groaned as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
TO BE CONTINUED...