A/N (Aroihkin's Notes) 07.21.05:
Nothing to report, continue on.
05.02.2010: All scene-dividers have been eaten, again, on all of my stories. I give up. Please just go read this story on arowrites dot net where it hasn't been made incoherent; I am unable to keep up with this site's stupidity.
---- ----: -x- :---- ----
Mad Machine
episode two, push
"Are you a Prince? Are you a King? Or are you, perhaps, just a machine?"
Memory gave way to reality with that final, echoing line from... how long ago had it been? Days? Weeks? Months? Even his enhanced memory couldn't tell him for sure. He still remembered the helplessness, the not being able to move. The sight of both of his disconnected arms laying mere feet away as the... whatever they were had operated on them.
He'd -screamed- upon reconnect, sobbed even, as the thousands of cybernetic nerve endings clashed and spliced all at once in both shoulder sockets. His brain had shocked white, giving him the impression of seeing stars even though his cameras hadn't so much as flickered. It took more than simple pain to make the Phantom Ranger's vision truly sputter, but the mind was perhaps not nearly as durable as the hardware it controlled.
But that was then, and this was now. The Phantom's cameras came online with his wakefulness, graphs pulsing beneath a green frame.
Slowly, he sat up.
"Hey," a familiar voice said in greeting, quietly, from his right. He turned his head to look, and found himself watching a very tired looking TJ. The former Red Ranger was seated in a chair facing the medical cot that Phantom's somewhat daunting frame currently occupied. His hands were on the armrests and his feet planted away from the chair, suggesting that he'd been there for a while now.
Phantom inclined his head in silent greeting. One corner of TJ's mouth twitched upwards just a bit, as though something about that had just amused him but he didn't want to actually laugh.
Somewhat puzzled, Phantom considered him a moment longer before turning his attention away from the other Ranger.
He was in the medical bay of the Astro Megaship, which in itself was no surprise. It seemed that at least once every time he came to Earth for whatever reason, he ended up needing medical treatment. Not that there was much that the Rangers' medical facilities could do to help him under most any circumstance... but they always tried.
"We finally made Cassie leave just a few hours ago." TJ finally broke into his observations when the Phantom swung his legs over the side of the cot in preparation to stand. "She'll probably be up looking for you again in another few."
The Phantom said nothing, bracing himself to take his own weight while he continued to study the room. Here on the other side of the cot, and much closer, a vacant chair. A few long dark hairs that could only be the Pink Ranger's lay across the back.
TJ rose immediately when the Phantom's boots met the cold tiles of the medical bay's floor. He'd managed to take several steps before he found his way blocked.
"You're not going to say a single word?"
"...Thank you, TJ." the armored Ranger said, still slightly puzzled. What did the Blue Ranger want him to do, give a speech right here and right now? Explain everything to one now that would need to be explained to all later?
"I meant to Cassie."
The Phantom Ranger inclined his head again, "I will thank her as well. And the rest of y..." he trailed off into silence when TJ's hand came to rest on the armored plate of his left shoulder. The human Ranger was staring intently at his helmet.
"I don't mean about that."
"I need to speak to all of you, about why I'm here and about what is surely following me." he conceded, knowingly dodging the subject. What good would talking about that sort of thing do? Nothing good could come of it, and Cassie would be better off not dealing with him, anyway.
"You know exactly what I mean." TJ frowned.
"I do." Phantom admitted without hesitation, but purposefully didn't elaborate.
"You're going to hurt her again."
And this time, the Phantom Ranger only responded with his back as he side-stepped TJ and walked down the corridor toward the lift. He was only slightly unsteady on his feet now, and his Power Ruby was pulsing normally. An excellent recovery, even for him. He'd be gone quickly enough and back on his way... and if he moved fast enough, perhaps he could intercept...
"...I don't care, I need to be around when he wakes up." that was Cassie's voice coming from the lift, ahead. Phantom almost hesitated, but he could feel TJ's stare boring into his armored back. "He's just going to vanish again otherwise, you know."
"Alright Cassie, but you need sleep." Ashley, the Yellow Ranger, his mind supplied the name and color to the voice. "Even if you just stretch out on one of the other cots in there..."
The lift's doors slid open.
"Oh..." was all the Pink Ranger said, staring at him. He came to a halt despite himself, tensing as TJ approached the sudden, silent stare-down. The Blue Ranger stopped behind him and waited a moment as Phantom and Cassie seemed to size each other up.
"I need to speak to everyone." Phantom finally said, after breaking the stare-down by looking at the floor. "This is an important matter... they will not be far behind me..."
"They?" Ashley said slowly, obviously curious. "Who are 'they'?"
"..." the Phantom Ranger continued to watch the floor, feeling the seconds and minutes trickle past. He had to tell them, but he had to tell them all, and ideally... this would happen before they found Earth. "Please, I need to talk to everyone."
The lift doors opened, Carlos and Andros stepped out.
"DECA told us you guys needed us down here?" Carlos said, before he caught sight of Phantom. "Oh."
Musing briefly that he seemed to have that effect on everyone, the Phantom Ranger braced himself before looking at all of them in turn. Finally, he thought he could speak of it, if only briefly.
"I was taking the remains of the Delta Megaship away. To either be rebuilt or scrapped properly by their original world." he spoke somewhat haltingly at first, in oddly awkward sentences. "I had all of the pieces in a force net behind my ship..." Phantom once again stared at the floor, "and then I was captured."
"Everyone gets taken off guard -some- time, Phantom Ranger." Andros spoke up at the pause, "It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"The capture does not shame me. My -release-, however..." his hands curled into fists at his side, "the fact that I came -here-, led them... led them -here-... that is what shames me."
"It didn't look like you had much choice." TJ, this time.
"No, you're wrong. They wired me so thoroughly into the Delta Megazord so that I would not need to be awake to pilot it. It..." he raised one fist to stare at it, "it became my very body, and this form you see before you became nothing more than a circuit."
The Phantom Ranger could feel the confusion radiating from most of them, with only the Red Ranger knowing, truly, what he was talking about. He continued, regardless, knowing that Andros would fill the rest in on his... state, later. That was one thing he -couldn't- say, not right here in front of Cassie. His hand dropped to his side again.
"They forced my mind into a comatose state, and then they released me." he stared at Andros, now, instead of his fist or the floor, "I know now that they intended for my subconscious to have me travel to my planet of origin... and I came here instead. I apologize."
Everyone seemed to have something to say to that, but none of them seemed to be able to say it. He looked at them, their mouths slightly open, before eyeing the floor again.
"Phantom Ranger..." it was Cassie, of course, who spoke up first. "You... do you think of Earth as your home planet?"
"No," he answered truthfully, mentally wincing at the bluntness, "I cannot."
Andros murmured something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like the Phantom Ranger's universal title, 'the lone wolf of space'. Phantom nodded at him slightly.
"I do not have a home planet. I was... exiled from my planet of origin," that surprised even Andros, who looked up sharply and seemed to study him anew, "...which is where they had clearly hoped I would lead them."
He paused.
"I have led them here, instead, and put you and your world in unnecessary danger. I will leave immediately to intercept their ship and attempt to rectify the... problem." and he moved to walk past the Rangers.
Cassie stopped him with her hand on his arm. He stared at the contact for the briefest of moments before looking at her face.
"Phantom Ranger... what did they do to you when you were captured?"
"Nothing I wasn't created for." he said without thinking, before he quickly stepped away, "Please, Cassie, do not worry about me. I must go."
"Like hell." Phantom looked up, startled, at TJ and Andros... who had both said it at the same time. They spared each other an amused glance before Andros bore down on Phantom, causing the armored Ranger to back quickly away.
"You're not going to stop me, Rangers. I must..."
"We will, and you won't." TJ was following Andros' example, and shortly the Phantom Ranger found himself surrounded. The five Rangers made a half a circle before him, and the unyielding wall of the corridor stood solidly at his back. He didn't want to have to fight them...
"If I do not leave -now-, Andros, they will find Earth."
"We're all Rangers here, Phantom." Carlos glared, "You can't expect us to let you just rocket off to be a martyr, not again."
"You've done that to us enough times." TJ added with a glare of his own, gripping Phantom's shoulders. "This time, you're going to stick around and let us -help- you."
"Long Range sensors detect lunar warp." DECA interjected from a speaker in the wall above Phantom, "An alien craft has entered orbit around Earth."
"I'm too late." the Phantom Ranger sighed, shoulders slumping beneath TJ's hands.
"What do they want with your home--I'm sorry, 'planet of origin', anyway?" Ashley asked him, folding her arms. "Zordon wiped out all the evil that could have possibly had a grudge against you."
"They... they wish to find more like me, or at least those who could make something like me." he replied, carefully not looking at Cassie, "And then, they wish to destroy us..."
"What, Power Rangers?" TJ again.
"No."
"Humans?"
"I am not human."
That was met with some surprise, but no real shock. After all, they had always known he was from space, and that didn't necessarily mean he came from a human colony like Andros had. Andros himself remained carefully silent.
"Your race, then?"
"Of a sorts." the Phantom Ranger readily conceded.
"Alien craft entering Earth's atmosphere." DECA announced, "Approaching Delta Megazord."
"So they're coming here?" Cassie, who had seemed to go off into her own mind, snapped back out of it.
They had gotten rid of the press only by threatening to never talk to them again, and then had extracted the Phantom Ranger from the Delta. He hadn't moved a bit except under their manipulation, and just like the time in the tunnels under Angel Grove, she'd wondered at how heavy he was. What was he?
"Naturally." he replied. "They will be looking for me, and then they will be looking for signs of my..." a glance at Andros, "...race."
"Incoming transmission."
"Let's get to the bridge. DECA... put it through when we get there." Andros strode for the lift doors, pausing to look back at everyone. "Well? Come on. You, too." the final two words were spoken with a very pointed look at the Phantom Ranger. He found himself tagging along, the Pink, Green, and Blue Rangers flanking him.
The creature on the screen made the Phantom Ranger distinctly uncomfortable. She was, indeed, the leader of the same group who had captured him originally, although her basic appearance was now that of a human. The messy hair still had a dark blue tint to it, though, and the too-pale skin made the bright blue eyes look odd.
"Ah..." said the figure on the screen, "I see you have found our toy."
There was movement behind her, but nothing clear.
"Who are you?" TJ demanded, sounding both puzzled and offended. All of the humans had been annoyed by the toy remark, it was obvious in their body language. The Phantom Ranger shook his head, just slightly.
"I am Anura, Queen's Admiral of Kulitron." an oddly fang-less, ironic smile, "And -you- are?"
"We're the Power Rangers." said Ashley, stepping forward, "And we're not letting you take the Phantom Ranger again."
"How very amusing, that you think you can stop us."
"We can, and we will."
"You can, you say? You will? You'll -try-, you mean, and fail." the also familiar sing-song male voice said from off camera, and laughter was heard. Anura, notably, didn't seem very amused... her eyes took on a harder glint.
"You're called the Phantom Ranger, then?" she said, staring directly at him, "Fitting, perhaps. Regardless... this world lacks the technological level of your home planet, we will require your further... assistance."
The Phantom Ranger nodded slowly.
"If you leave Earth and its Rangers unharmed, I will... go with you."
"No you won't." Ashley turned on him.
"You will hold me prisoner, then?"
"If we need to." TJ sounded grim, and Andros nodded behind him.
"How touching." Anura scoffed over the open transmission, "The machine has made biological friends. But humans will grow attached to anything, I suppose." Ignoring the confusion that spread through four of the human Rangers, she continued. "We will acquire you again, Phantom Ranger. Whether your... friends approve or not. Know this."
He nodded.
"Transmission ended." DECA said as the screen went blank. The Phantom Ranger felt he could easily hate the Queen's Admiral of Kulitron, for exposing what he was if for no other reason. Cassie in particular was looking at him with the most peculiar... expression... and he stared again at the floor. It seemed he did a lot of that, lately, but it was better than meeting their gazes.
"You really should let me go." the Phantom Ranger said, voice somewhat harsh.
"Not happening." Andros answered without hesitation, and the machine shook his head again.
---- ----: -x- :---- ----
Power Rangers © someone else.
All here that is not found in the shows... is mine.
Never steal if you value your spleen.
Reviews are lovely, reviews make the Aro happy, and a happy Aro is more inspired to write.
However, they are not absolutely required, and flames will result in a very annoyed Aro. I'm not forcing you to read my stuff, you must realize. So I've no sympathy for you if you read it, hate it, and yet can't keep your pointer off the review button.
Constructive criticism is awesome, mind, but I can tell thinly-veiled sarcasm when I see it.
– review replies –
Daylight: Wow, I'm glad you like it so much! Thanks for the review... :)
AngelMouse5: Zhane will be in it, yes. :) Just not for a few chapters... I'm having enough of a time trying to juggle this many characters all of a sudden. XD So him and Karone are conveniently away for the moment.
juzblue: Thanks!