Disclaimer: Power Ranger is owned by various people, none of which are me.
Author's Note: I'd first like to like to thank my muses. Next I'd also like to give credit to Brandon B. and KingCillaty ver. 3 for re-inspiring my Power Ranger muse with their Jack/Z SPD stories as well as thank all the other Jack/Z writers out there. Keep up the great work. This story is set near the beginning of the episode "Reflections" but then goes into my own AU. The only couple I'm sure it's going to have is Jack/Z.
SPD: Elite Defenders
Chapter 01: Return of A-Squad
On Gruumm's large space ship, the evil Troobian Emperor could be seen having a discussion with Morgana over the progress of their newest warrior Slate, when an Orange-head enters and bows.
"My emperor," the elite krybot greets.
"What is the meaning of this! Why have you entered and disturbed my briefing with Morgana!" Gruumm asked as his eyes glowed red and his staff began to pulse with power.
"Forgive me master but I came bearing important news, the mission you sent me on was a success. We found them my emperor, and the unit of krybots you sent with me are unloading them as we speak." The Orange-head answered quickly knowing his existence was at stake.
Gruumm calmed and looked eager, "You found them you say? Excellent!" He then turned to Morgana, "Morgana, go find Broodwing! Quickly!"
"Of course," she answered, more than a little curious as she left to find Broodwing.
"And you, lead me to my new precious cargo!" Gruumm commanded the krybot as he rose from his throne.
"Right this way, master" the Orange-head replied with a bow before leading the way.
-----
Back on earth in the SPD Base Jack could be found in Sky's room listening to Sky after they found out about Jack's newest upgrade to his powers.
" . . . All I've ever wanted to be was a hero like my dad," Sky spoke as he looked at his dad's picture.
"Heroes come in all colors Sky," Jack tried to get his fellow ranger to understand.
Right then the intercom went off, "Cadet Tate report to the Command Room."
"Well, I better go see what I'm needed for," Sky replied as he straightened his uniform and walked out.
"Yeah," Jack answered with a slightly worried expression as he watched Sky make his way down the hall.
-----
Back on Gruumm's battle ship, the emperor would be found pacing outside a locked door as he waited for Broodwing to be brought to him. Soon the alien in question was making his way to Gruumm, Morgana at his side.
"Emperor, how may I serve you? I was just finishing a deal with Slate, selling him the genetic codes of some of the rangers past enemies."
Gruumm's voice hardened for a moment, "I don't remember authorizing such a transaction," his voice soon returned to its normal tone. "No matter come, I have important business for you," He says this as he steers Broodwing to the door behind them and opens it.
Inside are the seemingly still morphed A-squad SPD Rangers, but they appeared to be lifeless.
"Are those the lost A-squad Rangers," Broodwing asked in interest.
"The ones and the same," Gruumm answered with an evil chuckle.
"But if that's them, then why are they still morphed and why aren't they moving," Morgana interjected.
"Ah, that's the best part! I always had a feeling something wasn't right with these rangers and it turns out I was right. It seems they are SPD's biggest secret, they're experimental cyborgs!" Gruumms joy at this was a bit frightening
"Interesting, but what do you want of me Emperor." Broodwing asked even as he had begun to formulate an idea of Gruumm's plans for the rangers.
"I want you and Morgana to reprogram them to obey me, and me alone!" the Troobian Emperor ordered them.
"It'd be our pleasure," Broodwing answered with a bow as Margana gave a wicked smirk.
"And Broodwing, succeed in this and you shall be paid more than enough to cover you past money losses," Gruumm added this bit to insure Broodwing's best and most precise work as he gave off a maniacal laugh.
-----
A few hours have passed and Gruumm was called back for the rangers' reactivation. As the rangers were reactivated, their visors glowed an eerie red for a moment, before returning to normal.
The rangers then moved to attention and saluted Gruumm, "Emperor we await your orders, sir!"
"Good" Gruumm chuckled, before turning to Broodwing and handing him a large case of money, "Excellent work, Broodwing. Now let's discuss plans . . . ."
-----
A little while later back on Earth Slate had just split into six part after help from Morgana and the seven of them where beating the rangers, even when Commander Cruger came the tide hadn't turned. Jack was just about to summon his battlizer when a stranger armored looking van sped up to the scene, firing lasers and blasting the enemies back..
"It's a SPD SWAT truck!" The commander exclaimed.
The truck came to a stop and out stepped the A-squad Rangers.
"It's A-squad!" Syd yelled in surprised.
The A-squad with their SWAT armor and Delta enforcers soon made short work of the six Slates, as Morgana made her escape with a mysterious grin on her face.
"Sir, we just got back and as soon as we heard your situation we decided to lend a hand," the red A-squad ranger stated as he and his squad saluted the commander.
"It's good to see all of you," Commander Cruger voiced. "Let's head back to base so you can debrief me on your mission."
"Yes, sir!" the returning rangers replied simultaneously.
The commander and both squads of rangers piled into the SWAT truck and sped off back to base.
-----
At the base we find the rangers and the commander exiting the SWAT truck from were its parked near the Delta Runner's vehicle bay. They all then started heading for the entrance into the rest of the base, but seeing the Runners the A-squad lags behind a bit as they went and looked around their Runner as if glad to see an old friend.
"We took good care of them while you were away," Jack assured them from the exit of the bay.
The red A-squad ranger replied, "I'm sure all of you did, we're just glad to see them again."
Jack just nodded and continued on as the A-squad finally made their way behind him. Little did Jack know that that wasn't the only reason they wanted to touch the vehicles as on each a timed explosive device blinked. Even if he did see them, what he couldn't have known was that the self-destruct sequence had also been activated on the SWAT truck.
After a couple of levels as they were making their way across the last floor of common rooms before the Command Room, the building began to shake violently, knocking many to their feet and causing even the Commander to stumble.
"What's going on!" Syd yelled.
"We can answer that for you," the red A-squad ranger said in a menacing tone as he and the rest of his squad had their delta enforcers drawn and aimed at the Commander and B-squad.
"What's the meaning of this!" growled Cruger.
"I thought it was simple to understand with our weapons drawn," The now evil red ranger said before firing upon the Commander.
"Commander!" numerous voices yelled as Cruger was blasted back and landed on the ground with a thump.
"Don't worry you'll be joining him soon, inferior rangers," the traitorous red ranger mocked, "but I'll tell you what, we'll give you a slight chance. Go ahead and morph, rookies."
Jack growled as he yelled some orders, "Some of you around here take Cruger to Med Bay. The rest of you get out of here."
A few of the cadets standing by quickly, but gently grabbed Cruger and took off with him. The rest did as ordered and got out of there as quick as possible.
"Now," Jack began, "You ready gang?"
The rest of B-squad gave their agreements, some with teary voices, as they all pulled out their morphers.
"SPD! Emergency!" they chorused as they transformed into their ranger suits before attacking.
Even with their desire to avenge their fallen commander it was easy to see that the battle was mostly one-sided. The A-squad rangers were called the best of the best for a reason as their fighting prowess was amazing. Matters were also made worse by the fact that their suits were upgraded to SWAT mode while the B-squad's weren't. Even when R.I.C. joined the fight very little ground was gained.
"SPD Battlizer! Cyber Mode!" Jack yell summoning his battlizer for the first time and hoping it would help turn the tide.
It seemed to work as Jack began to beat the evil red ranger back. The other A-squad members noticed their leader's troubles and blasted their opponents back and went to help him. Jack was barely able to hold his own against all of the SWAT power rangers at once. Soon he was knocked back by a double dropkick into his fellow squad members knocking them out of ranger mode.
"Sorry, guys," Jack apologized. "I guess its time to take it up a notch. SPD Battlizer! Sonic . . . ."
"I don't think so!" the pink A-squad ranger yelled as she interrupted Jack with a blast from her double-barreled weapon, while another of her squad fired upon and destroyed R.I.C.
"Jack!" Z screamed.
"R.I.C.!" Syd screamed just as loud.
"I'm fine Z," a now demorphed Jack told his longtime friend as he stood up slowly. The he growled "You may have taken out R.I.C. but we aren't done ye. Ready guys?"
"Ready," the agreed pulling their morphers again.
"Oh, I don't think so, not this time," the evil rangers chorus as they fired upon the morphers.
Sparks flew as the B-quad rangers were blown back on to the ground, all of them clutching the hurt hand that had held their morphers. The morphers laid in front of them, slightly blackened and smoking but still intact for the most part.
Crawling to the morphers and ignoring the pain in their hands they screamed, "SPD! Emergency!"
Nothing happened though as they tried again and again, before they finally stopped as they heard their enemies laugh. Scampering backwards with their eyes firmly on the rangers they soon all bumped against a wall.
"Well it seems its time we ended this little game already." The red ranger sneered.
Sky, Z, Syd, and Bridge all got into fighting positions, determined to fight to the end, before Jack stretched out his arms and held them all back with a light touch.
With a bowed head as if he was admitting defeat when he was really focusing his powers, he said calmly, "Actually I think we'll continue this, another round."
He then demolecularized and pushed his powers over his friends as he fell back through the wall behind them.
-----
On the other side of the wall, Jack dropped to one knee from the strain of using his powers on so many people.
"Jack, you ok?" Z asked in worry.
"I'll be fine and we don't have time even if I wasn't, come on," Jack said in a tired voice as he led them quickly up a hall.
"Since when could you do that?" Bridge asked as they jogged.
"Since always, I'll explain more later, but we've got to get to the Command Room quick," Jack urged as he deflected Bridge's question. He knew he had to get them as far away from A-squad as possible.
As a leader he was privy to higher levels of information than the rest of his teammates. One of the things he knew was the capabilities of the SWAT Armor their adversaries were wearing, in particular interscopic vision that allowed them to see through walls and other things. As it was though, even with their civilian powers he knew they wouldn't last long against the traitorous rangers, but if he could get to the Command Room he could put another bit of high level knowledge to use.
Just as they made it to the Command Room door blaster fire and screams could be heard from down the opposite end of the hall.
"There they are!" the yellow A-squad ranger yelled as she and her fellow rangers marched quickly toward them firing.
Quickly entering the Command Room, Jack hastily made it to a control pad and locked down the door to the Command Room. Banging was heard outside the door before blaster fire hammered the entrance. Pressing a few buttons a wall panel opened that had stronger versions of their civilian blasters made like rifles in it.
"Z, Syd, Bridge grab a weapon and be prepared to fire if need be," Jack ordered before turning to Sky. "Sky, I'm going to need you to be ready to put up a shield if they get the door open before I'm done."
"And what are you going to do?" Sky asked as he turned to the door and readied himself.
"Me, I'm going to see if I can kick our rude guests out," Jack joked cryptically as he began typing on the control panel in front of him.
"Uh, Jack maybe I should be the one working on the computer for whatever it is your trying to do?" Bridge suggested.
"You're certainly better than me on matters like this usually," Jack began, "but you don't have my authorization codes."
Just then the command door was wrenched open but the invading rangers were surprised by a round of laser rifle fire. They were knocked back just enough for Sky to put up a shield. The evil blue ranger growled and ran toward the opening only to bounce back from the invisible shield.
"So it seems the red runt isn't the only one with tricks," the red A- squad ranger began darkly, seeing his comrade stumble back. "Well, let's see how long you hold that shield against our combined blaster fire."
A double dose of energy poured from all five of the rangers double turreted Delta Enforcers. Sky could be seen straining as the blasts hammered his shield, the other B-squad rangers giving their support as Jack worked diligently off to the side of them.
"Jack, I can't . . . can't hold it much longer!" Sky gritted out in pain.
"Just a little longer!" Jack ordered burying the worry he held. Jack may not have always gotten along with Sky but he didn't want the guy seriously hurt.
"I . . . I can't hold it anymore!" Sky anguished as his shield was cracked at last. Sky fell to the ground trembling in pain.
"Got it!" Jack yelled as he finished typing.
As the A-squad entered, they fired at B-squad hitting various computer panels as the blasts were dodged. Then all of a sudden their bodies began to glow.
"What's going onnnn!" they yelled before they disappeared in pulsing pillars of color-coordinated light.
Next time in SPD: Elite Defenders: Answers, Secrets, and Regrouping: The other four rangers find out what Jack did to the A-squad rangers. After visiting the med bay and checking of the commander's condition Kat tells the truth about A-squad and gives a possible theory on why they turned on them. What other secrets will be told, both purposely and accidentally. Stay tuned.
Well, it's been a while since I've written anything for Power Rangers but SPD has breathed new life into my PR muse. This story will touch on some issues I think should have been touched on and a few that I think weren't really resolved to my satisfaction. I'll tell you now that one issue will be Sky's coming to terms with being the blue ranger and wanting to be a hero like his dad. I liked the two-part episode "Reflections" in fact it's probably my favorite episode so far, but to me it fell short of really settling that issue. I mean you have Sky using the red ranger powers to defeat the guy who is thought to have killed his dad. Then at the end you have him saying he's proud to be the blue ranger with nothing really lending to that. I mean I know him using the red ranger powers was meant to be an ode to his dad but part of me thinks it would have been better had he defeated the guy with his own powers, or at least tried. By that time Murloc's main advantage of disappearing in reflective objects was taken away or so we're lead to believe. I believe his mirrors were a part of his body (sorta like scales on a reptile) and could have healed over time, which is why they were still precautious in sending him somewhere without sunlight. Anyway, I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking things, I mean I see why they handled it the way they did, but I just feel that that one part of the episode, that one issue, could have been dealt with better. Anyway, sorry for the long author's note. Read and Review. Peace.