Inside the mausoleum, a figure stood against the wall, mere inches from the doorframe. A sigh fell from the figure's lips; today was going to be a long day.
Do I run or do I fight? Can I afford to run now, really? I'm cornered so I have to stay…but I can't fight. I'll end up dying; I'm definitely not strong enough to win. But can I afford to just go and restart my life…? Can I afford to let Mordom run free and hurt the only people who care about me even more than he already has? Can I do what is right, even if it means my life?
The figure looked up to the casket above her and smiled. "Ya know, I never came here to visit. Can you forgive me? I'm sure Sky visits you all the time. Me…I'm too stubborn to admit that I'm scared and alone. Well, I'm not really alone any more…am I?" She flipped the small device in her left hand. "Should I do it? Would you help me if I did?" A slight breeze whipped around the empty mausoleum, tussling her short dirty blonde locks. "I knew you'd say that. You would say that no matter what."
"Get away from there!" Bridge screamed, firing shots off at Mordom. Two shots struck the monster in the back, but it didn't even seem to faze him.
"Oh, but I must inspect my kill…" Mordom snickered. As he approached the door, however, a fist came flying out from the right side of the doorframe, leaving him momentarily stunned. A glove went flying through the air as Stella slid in front of the doorframe and roundhouse kicked Mordom flat on his ass.
"What the…? You're supposed to be dead!" Mordom shouted. Bridge stopped, causing the others to stop at his side.
"Dad said he didn't want any visitors." Stella snarled. Mordom's reply came wrapped in a furious growl.
"She's alive! That's incredible!" Bridge shouted with glee as he looked over at his teammates.
"Uh oh. Guys…we didn't get all the Krybots…" Z said as he turned around to see what the bustle behind them was all about.
"Let's hold them off while Stella continues her fight with…well, whoever or whatever she's fighting." Syd replied. They quickly charged the Krybots, batons and blasters drawn.
"I'm so sick of running from you! You destroyed my life! You took me away from the things that mattered! You took away the things that mattered to me! I don't fear anything now! I only care about destroying you!" Stella shouted.
"My, my, what conviction you have…is your bite as strong as your bark?"
"Yes it is. I've got just two words to back that up, too."
"And what would those words be?"
Stella drew the morpher that she had stashed in her jacket pocket out and proceeded to shout "SPD! Emergency!"
The shining projection of the blue ranger's uniform shone in front of her. Stella did a quick backflip as the projection flew towards her. She landed on her feet and was flung back a bit. As she hit the ground on her hands, she did a crouching backflip, ending in a crouching position and guarding her face with her left arm. She then dropped her arm as the helmet attached itself at the sides of her head as it came together. She stood up and took a dramatic pose, finishing off the transformation. "SPD Blue!"
"You…you…"
"Stole it from you? Why, of course! I couldn't let you have it now, could I? Besides, the last Blue Ranger said that criminals are always criminals, no matter how long they go without committing a crime. I might as well live up to that standard." Stella snickered. She pulled out the D-Baton and began to shift it to Deltamax Striker mode, making it much more like her shield spike. She then spun it around and held it like a dagger and charged at Mordom. She took several jabs at Mordom, only to receive a swift and heavy punch to the chest.
"If you can morph, then so can I…" Mordom snarled as he tossed off his coat and flung several smoke grenades around himself. When the smoke cleared thirty seconds later, a dramatically different figure stood before Stella. A black armor that resembled a scarab beetle wearing a ninja suit, his left arm was equipped with a heavy laser cannon, and a large helmet his any remains of humanity in Sky's face and replaced it with a twisted version of Mordom's true face. Sky's soulless blue eyes shone through the mask, reminding Stella exactly what she was fighting for. She attached the D-Baton to the Striker's holster and fired off several rounds as she bounded up a willow tree. They seemed to only minimally faze the tank of a being.
"Were those supposed to hurt me, Stella?" Mordom called out. His voice had also become melded with Sky's, making it hard to tell that the two weren't always the same person. She fired off several more shots as Mordom walked towards the tree's base, and it was only the last shot that even moved the creature.
"So, trying to stop me, are you? I'm afraid that nothing will save you, Stella…" Mordom mocked. Stella continued to fire of shots, hitting her target every time. Mordom was slightly affected by them, but not enough to stop. He was now feeling the shots connect with the armor as she slowly chipped away at it; she wouldn't ever fully take out the armor with such a weak pistol, however. Mordom's natural armor was strong as it was, but while reinforced by Sky's natural shield, it was nearly indestructible.
Mordom finally stopped at the base of the tree and charged up his cannon to emit a high-intensity laser beam. The beam was fired straight into the base of the tree, which set the tree ablaze. Stella then leaped into the tree next to the flaming one, focusing and unloading several more shots to Mordom's left side. She struck the cannon in three separate places, causing sparks to erupt from it.
"Ah, you crazy bitch! You'll pay for that!" Mordom cried out. He aimed his laser cannon at the new tree and fired, causing not only the high-intensity laser to shoot out of the nozzle, but sparks to shoot out of the shattered parts of the cannon as well. "Argh!" He cried out, holding one of the sparking parts of his cannon.
Stella ran through the first tree's flaming branches and curled up in the tree to its left, making sure that Mordom thought she was in the other tree. She noticed that the weakest part of his armor lay in an area in the low center of his back, presumably since most people couldn't survive long enough to ever get to it. She unloaded three shots at it, sending sparks flying out of it.
"How did you…? Ugh!" Mordom dropped to his knees and tried to recover. Stella took a breather and noticed that one of the flaming branches was snapping. She aimed a shot at it and it connected with Mordom just as he was looking upwards. The tree branch tossed burning embers in his face, temporarily blinding him while burning away at the armor.
Stella was amazed at her luck so far; she wasn't ever a good marksman as part of the Marauders, but as soon as she held the Striker in her hand, she felt a rush of experience flow through her. She jumped down out of the last tree and smiled at her victory. She kicked the tree branch away at the cowering symbiote that was once Sky and aimed the Striker at his head.
"You're done!" Stella shouted.
"Think again!" Mordom shouted, changing back to his pulse blast and firing at Stella at point blank range. She shrieked as she flew backwards and demorphed. She landed flat on her back and was knocked senseless on impact. As she was recovering, Mordom slowly stood up and brushed the ashes out of his eyes, trying to fully regain his sight before finishing his job.
Mordom slowly got up and walked over to Stella's side, deciding that picking her up by her throat was the best option. Stella's shield had been taken out once more, and she was completely vulnerable to whatever Mordom decided to do to her. Stella's only defense to being choked was to mildly resist by flailing about, but it was futile in her weakened state. Mordom grinned and hurled her against the mausoleum's marble walls. Stella whimpered as she received a concussion and a cracked pair of ribs. She slid down the wall and tried to breathe.
The other Rangers had been fighting off the swarm of Krybots, and the fight for them was dying down. Jack combined his Delta Blasters and took out the remaining Krybots that were left. The four of them were much too tired to help Stella; Bridge was so worn out that he collapsed to the ground and demorphed. Z demorphed and lied down next to him.
"You okay?" Z asked.
"I feel like I've been completely separated from myself…like my entire body's been drained…"
"I know how ya feel…we've all been taken apart these last few days…" Syd replied. She gasped as Stella hit the mausoleum wall. "Oh my!"
"Guys, can we pull ourselves together for a few moments and help Stella out?" Jack asked, catching his breath.
"It looks like she needs our help, regardless of whether we can give it…" Z commented. She got to her feet and helped Bridge up and over to the Delta Cruiser. Jack and Syd followed them. "Let's make one final run, then hope for the best." They slowly got into the Cruiser as Mordom picked her up once more. They drew their sidearm pistols as Z revved the engine and blazed forward. They all trained their shots on Mordom then peppered him with repeated laser beams. Several shots hit him in the face, four shots hit him in the arm, and three hit him in the back. Mordom dropped Stella, allowing her to breathe. Z quickly stopped the cruiser and they all hopped out.
"Stop right there!" Jack called out.
"Leave our friend alone!" Bridge said.
"Guys, you don't have to…" Stella said as she got to her feet. "This is my fight."
"Fine…" Bridge sighed, standing at ease. The other rangers lowered their weapons as well.
"Oh, you two are so adorable. I think I'm gonna vomit." Mordom commented as she finally shook off the effects of the lasers. Stella smiled as she charged up her shield spike. She knew she didn't have the strength to sustain her entire shield, but she was certain that she could take whatever he dished out. She swung at Mordom several times, dragging her spike across his armor and kicking sparks up. Bridge decided to call the fire department to keep the trees from burning up any more than they already were; three more trees had caught on fire in the last two minutes. Stella missed a golden opportunity to strike and Mordom slammed his arm cannon against her face, knocking her down to the ground.
"I've had enough of this. It ends now!" Mordom said as he pointed the cannon straight at her head. A simmer in Sky's eyes suggested a secondary lapse of consciousness. Stella saw a chance to appeal to Sky's morality.
"Sky! Stop this!" Stella shouted. "You're not a killer! You don't want to do this to anybody! You're a well-respected Ranger! Do you wanna live with my death on your hands?" Mordom continued to stare down at her, trying with all his might to fire off the kill shot.
Sky admitted defeat. This wasn't at all what he wanted. Stella was right for once; he wasn't a killer and he didn't want her death on his hands. He just wanted closure in his life; he wanted everything to be as it was, as it should be. He owed her one, and this moment was the best time to pay it forward. With every ounce of strength he had left, he forced his left arm several inches to the left just as Mordom fired, giving Stella less than an inch of space between life and death.
Stella saw the new opportunity, got up, forced herself to flank Mordom and cut a long and deep arc through Mordom's back. She drove through the point of sparking; clear fluid from the carapace mixed with Sky's blood and splattered everywhere within a six foot arc. Nerves were severed, veins and capillaries broke apart, muscles tore loose from each other, and vertebrae shattered underneath the sheer force of Stella's shield spike. The fluids sprayed all over her, covering her in a mist of red fury. The crimson shined brightly as the morning sun began to peak over the treetops, illuminating the true horrors of the scene. The four B Squad members gasped in horror and began to run over to the scene.
The morning sun was the last thing Sky saw as he fell backwards into Stella's arms. He smiled, knowing that he had finally paid Stella back after so many years of trying hard to forget her. Mordom released Sky from his hold, as Sky was completely useless to him now. The other Rangers stood in front of Stella and Sky, forming a human shield.
"Lemme help finish this." Stella said as she whipped out Sky's morpher, shifting Sky to her left arm and shoulder, allowing her to use the morpher in her right hand. "You have been accused of fraudulent and criminal acts, including impersonation of an SPD officer, aggravated assault against numerous SPD officers, and the numerous deaths and attempted murders of SPD operatives and allies of SPD. Judgement!" The X and O went back and forth, assessing Mordom's innocence and guilt. Everyone there knew how it would end, though. The red X shone brightly as it stopped judging. "Guilty!"
"Ack…just destroy me, girl. Show me no mercy…" Mordom begged. Stella bent down as the others began to morph and laid Sky gently against the dew-moistened grass. She smiled, ruffled his hair a bit, then morphed with the rest of the group.
"Well, as you know, Sky is very smart. He knew long ago, and he told me long ago, that the Tantalus wasn't truly SPD. Back then, I didn't want to believe him, but now I do. The Tantalus was about revenge, deceit, a lack of personal honor; SPD is about justice, honor, and mercy. Mercy is just what we at SPD do. Mercy is all you'll get." Stella smiled as the Rangers summoned up the Canine Cannon. Stella stood at the head of the weapon as they fired it at the enraged Mordom. He was quickly confined in a card, which Jack walked over to get the card as the other Rangers began to speculate what to do with Sky.
"There's a hospital up at the hill. They don't have the top notch technology that SPD Headquarters has-" Syd began to state as she demorphed.
"If we waste our time bringing Sky back to HQ, there won't be a reason to bring him to the infirmary. We might as well drag him downstairs if we do." Stella commented, referring to the widely-feared morgue area down in the basement of the base. "I'm commandeering your cruiser."
"I'll drive." Bridge instantly volunteered. "I'd hate for you to have to go alone."
"I'll join you two." Syd said after Z nudged her. Nobody wanted Bridge and Stella to be alone anywhere in public.
"Fine. Somebody start the cruiser up and somebody help me pick Sky up." Syd helped carry Sky as Bridge started up the Cruiser. It was obvious that he wasn't too keen on driving stick shift, so Syd switched seats with him for the ride.
Less then five minutes later, Syd began flagging down emergency units in the hospital. Syd, Bridge, and Stella helped the doctors to lift Sky onto a stretcher, and they watched the doctors cart him off, forcing them to stay behind. Visitors weren't allowed in the E.R., so they were forced to sit in the waiting room.
Bridge sat between Syd and Stella, who were both looking down at the ground. Bridge worried that if he attempted to cheer them up, that it would just backfire.
"Are either of you hungry?" Bridge asked. They both looked at him as if he had completely lost whatever of his mind he hadn't already lost. "Well, I found that bad moods can be eliminated with french fries and some ketchup most of the time, and we passed a burger joint on the way here." Stella punched him in the arm and teared up. Syd grabbed the steel back of the chair and changed her fist to its composition. "Uh oh." Syd then smashed her fist into the chair and began to cry. She changed her fist back as Stella and Bridge wrapped their arms around her in a joint embrace.
"Syd, he'll be okay…"Bridge said.
"I promise he'll be okay. We got here really fast, and I didn't inflict a fatal wound…he'll be okay…"
"It's so unfair!" Syd shouted as she fell into a crying fit. Bridge and Stella felt insignificant for the moment, but realized that there was absolutely nothing they could do.