Episode 11 – The Ranger Suppression Act
'Welcome to PXN, I'm Oliva Myers. The time is currently 11:12. Our main story for today - an act has been proposed in Washington, to restrict and control the Wolf Pack Power Rangers of Pax Valley. President Harrison was seen in Congress proposing the act, the Ranger Suppression Act, which is an attempt to control and help in the controlling of the vigilantes. W-'
"Can you honestly believe this shit?" Tanya asked, turning the TV off before she could hear the report anymore. The controller went flying across the room, and threatened to break in half from how hard it had smashed into the wall.
Isaac was really glad it didn't break; last thing he needed was to buy another controller.
"Yes, it's fucked up. But please don't break my stuff," Isaac said with a sliver of sarcasm in his tone, though he quickly looked away, whistling casually when Tanya glared at him.
She had come over to this place to try and relax after that long day a couple of days ago. Fighting two Demons in one day, only actually destroying one, and finding two new Zords.. it can take it out of you. It had started off fine, a bit of eating, a few jokes thrown back and forth.
But that all took a sour tone, when Isaac had been flicking through the television channels and it had stuck on the news, just as there was a report on them. And like the idiot he was, Isaac had failed to get off of the channel as soon as he could.
And.. well, that resulted in a partially smashed controller and a pissed off Tanya.
"Look…I know jack-shit about the American Law system, but surely they need to have people in Washington to actually get behind this. Right? So.. try and chill until then, OK?" Isaac asked, though his tone sounded like he was lightly pleading.
Tanya glared at Isaac, before bringing her hands up to her face and rubbed slowly, sighing heavily as she sat down on the sofa beside Isaac. Subconsciously, she leaned to the side, her head coming to rest on Isaac's shoulder. His arm going around to gently rest on her shoulder, rubbing her arm tenderly.
"We need to stop this while we're ahead," Tanya sighed, bringing her hands down to her lap and closing her eyes.
"We can stop, but when they fuck up this world, who are they going to blame?" Isaac responded, glancing across at Tanya, a knowing look in his eye.
Tanya opened her eyes and looked up to him, before pulling back from Isaac's shoulder and sitting up properly. "They blame us when we do shit, then they'll blame us when we do fuck all."
"That's the government for ya," Isaac mused, leaning back to lie down on the sofa bed. He had barely woken up properly when the loud banging on the door had sounded in the early hours.
"And we can't do fuck all, because that's the last thing we need," Tanya added.
"Has Kyle got anything in the news since Canada?" Isaac asked, looking up to the ceiling.
"Not that I know of, other than the fact they were pissed because we destroyed a nature reserve," Tanya pointed out. Kyle hadn't said a word when he had shown the post on them, just a massive picture of scene of destruction in a forest with several police in the picture and what was essentially a massive rant about them.
"Yeah.. can't imagine they were too pleased with that," Isaac agreed.
Silence enveloped the two momentarily, before Tanya walked towards the door, muttering, "Gonna go to the bathroom…"
"K," Isaac called as she slipped through the door, pushing it back in hopes to close it, but only meeting the edge of the lock.
In a shadowy alley to the eastern side of Pax Valley, with cardboard boxes and trash bags littered across, a homeless man had his back propped against the side of a rubbish cart. His clothes were tatty and his appearance rough, a large grey beard along his jaw and cheeks. Low snores came from him, his eyes twitching slightly.
Save for his snoring, all was quiet in the alley.
Until…
The sound of a liquid-y squelching growing steadily louder woke up him; his eyes quickly shot open and he jerked up. Years of being on these streets had taught him to wake up quickly at whatever sound he heard, some lessons were learnt the hard way. He looked around sharply, trying to find the source of the sound.
But there wasn't anybody in the alley. Just him, and the rats that came from their hiding places.
That was when he noticed something.. odd.
A number of footprints walked down the alley past him, but they were in some sort of strange goo, glowing a dim green. He slowly leaned over and pulled one of the gloves off his hand, dipping two finger tips in one of the boot prints.
"What the fuck…?" He muttered softly, turning his hand around and rubbing the strange slime between his fingers and thumb. It had a strange feel to it, but found it similar…
A strange, insectoid ticking sound came from above him, and suddenly something wet landed on the shoulder of his jacket. He looked over to the shoulder, and found it was the same slime-y liquid trickling down his torn jacket.
The ticking sound continuing, he slowly looked up. Whatever it was, it was standing on top of the trash bin.
Seconds later, his sudden, pained scream came from the alley, along with a venomous hissing echoing off the walls. When they fell silent, seconds later, it was replaced with the sickening crack and the sound of flesh getting torn apart.
"Isaac."
Isaac looked down to his Howler as it flashed and growled, mildly surprised that he didn't have to push the crystal in order to open comms. Regardless, he raised the Howler up and said, "Yeah MUTT?"
"We have a disturbance reported towards the East of the city. Demonic traces."
"Fine, we'll head there. Me and Tanya are already close, so just get the others there," Isaac said, picking himself up from the sofa bed and headed for the door.
"I'll keep you up to date," Was MUTT's last message before the comms went off, and Isaac walked through the door of the room.
In the hallway, he almost ran into Tanya as she went to approach the door. "Something up?" She asked, as he closed the door behind him.
"Demons in the East," He explained briefly, gesturing for her to follow as he quickly worked around the door frames, heading for the front door. The two quickly left his house, and rushed towards the East end of the city.
"We got any sort of idea where in the East?" Tanya asked as they ran along the streets, quickly moving around random civilians; dodging most, but the ones that accidently shouldered cast them glares and threw insults at the teenagers.
"I'm pretty sure we'll find it," Isaac replied, and before long, they heard series of sirens, as police cruisers rushed passed them on the street, sirens blaring. Isaac had looked to Tanya when the cruiser drove pass them, and the two shared silent words.
Trying to keep it subtle, the two listening in on where the sirens were blaring, and followed them. Eventually leading them in what they assumed was the right direction. "MUTT, we at the right place?" Isaac asked lowly, once they were around the corner of the sirens.
"According to the tracker, you are. The others are in the process of getting to your location," MUTT responded over the comms.
Isaac went to respond, but quickly lowered his arm and covered his wrist once again as a couple walked pass. He gestured for Tanya to look around the corner. She did so, getting a glimpse at the situation around the street.
"Cops are already there; I count at least three cruisers. They're swarming, trying to keep the noisy fuckers out," She replied, pulling herself back from looking around.
Isaac nodded slightly, saying, "We can't really go in from the front.. so, attack from the back?"
"Never knew you liked it from the back," Tanya teased with a smirk.
Isaac responded with a simple eye-roll, before gesturing for her to follow him. The two walking along the street, and eventually found another alley between a couple of shops. They slipped into the alley when they were sure no-one was watching them, and walked a short distance into it.
"Think this is far enough?" Tanya asked, glancing back.
"It's going to have to be," Isaac responded, before rolling his sleeve up again and activated the Howler. A brief flash of light encased him, before quickly fading and revealing he was armoured up in his Red Alpha form. He looked up, and quickly jump up to grab a hold of an emergency escape staircase.
Tanya shook her head briefly, chuckling under her breath, before she activated her Howler and was transformed into her Yellow Gamma armour. She followed Isaac, taking the exact same path he had taken up the emergency staircase.
If anyone were to have catch the flashes down the alley, and they were to backtrack and look down the alley, they wouldn't find anything. They would simply be too late.
Tanya threw herself up the last section of the staircase, landing smoothly on top of the building and looked around. Isaac had already started walking towards the alley that was blocked off, and quickly jogged to walk up alongside him.
"So, you keep an eye out from the top and keep me up to date if shit goes down," Isaac asked as they neared the top of the alley, coming to stop at the very edge, one foot coming up to rest on the thin edge.
"What, afraid that I'll outshine you if I come down with you?" Tanya asked, one hand coming to rest on her hip.
Though she couldn't see it, Tanya was sure Isaac was rolling his eyes, and, judging by the slight shake of his head, she was correct. She chuckled as Isaac moved to leap down into the alley from the other side, without going in the way of the police.
Tanya moved down the top of the alley, slowly reaching the very corner edge and crouched down, looking around, and seeing the swarm of people trying to get a picture or video of what was going on behind the police tape. While the police themselves trying to keep them away, while others were closer to the alley's entrance.
She could hear and see things for what seemed like forever, but knew that if that was true, she would either go deaf or mad. But it was enough to give Isaac warning, should it come to that. She brought the Howler to her helmet, she asked, "Everything good down there?"
"So far, yeah. See any shit hitting the fan?"
"Nope, nothing ye... Wait…" Tanya replied, lowering her Howler as she leaned forward slightly, gripping the edge of the building to prevent herself from falling.
The scans, in addition to the enhanced sight, picked up a particular vehicle moving through the traffic at speed, weaving in and out, overtaking at risky looking positions. The black SUV wouldn't catch many people's attention, but something sounded and smelled.. off.
"What is it?" Isaac's voice came over again.
"We've got some black SUV incoming. Might be wrong, but looks FBI-like."
"The Feds? Shit." The seriousness to Isaac's tone was rare for Tanya to hear.
"Want help?" She asked, glancing between her Howler, down the side of the alley and down the street as the SUV drew closer. It seemed her gut instinct was right.
"Not yet.. trying to find out what this fucker is.. keep them distracted if you have to."
Tanya rolled her eyes slightly, huffing, "Fine," as she pulled her Howler down to rest across one of her knees.
"Shit... Shit, shit, shit!"
"What? What is it?" Tanya asked, looking to her Howler briefly before looking down into the alley, the frantic tone of her friend giving her cause for alarm. She stood up to jump down, but the police and civilians down below caught her attention.
The way the police turned around to look in the alley, trying harder to keep the civilians away, and some even drawing their weapons. Whether it was because of Isaac, or whatever was in that alley to begin with, shit was going to hit.
"Screw this," She muttered under her breath, getting up and backing up a few steps. Turning her head from side to side slightly, Tanya exhaled before running forward, throwing herself off of the building and through the air. She quickly righted herself before she could fall uncontrollably, and aimed for a clear spot among the police.
The ground cracked beneath her upon landing, physical cracks forming in the concrete sidewalk, and quickly gained the attention of the police around her. She rose to her feet, looking around briefly, long enough to see several of the officers quickly pulling their pistols free and aiming them at her.
"I haven't got time for your shit," She quickly said, looking to the alley and quickly rushed in, not having time to visibly turn into the blur the five of them had made themselves known for.
But she was quickly set back.. and not willingly.
Her body was thrown back, only with a mix of red thrown in with the black and yellow of her uniform, and only came to a stop when she collided with the side of one of the cruisers. The force sent it jerking to the side on two wheels.
Thankfully, it landed right back on four wheels once the force had vanished. The police became more frantic in attempts to get the civilians out of the area. Only a couple of them were free to aim their pistols at the side of the now crippled cruiser.
"Fuck, you weigh a ton," Tanya grunted as she shoved Isaac off of her before getting to her feet. She looked around slowly at the number of officers, with either her or the other Ranger in their sights.
"Shut it," Isaac snapped as he quickly jumped to his feet. He briefly scanned the area, asking, "These guys for real?" as he gestured to the officers with a thumb, before he turned back to the alley. He turned his head slightly to listen to something, before his eyes widened.
"Duck!" He exclaimed, grabbing Tanya's wrist and dragged her down to the ground. The officers glanced between each other at this, before the sound of grinding metal caught their attention from the alley.
The crowd dispersed quickly when a flying trash container came from the alley, the officers quickly moving or ducking out of the path of the flying trash container. It collided with the already damaged cruiser, the pair of large metal objects getting sent across the street.
"What the fuck was that?" Tanya asked once the container had flown overhead, lifting her head up to look back down the alley.
Isaac raised his head again, looking around briefly to see what the state was of the civilians and police was. After he saw no sight of blood, though that didn't say much, he looked back into the alley and replied, "A Wolkein."
"A fucking Wolkein did that? I doubt that," Tanya replied, pulling herself from Isaac's huddle, and moved towards the entrance to the alley. The buzzing of the civilians' chatter was ringing in her heads, no matter how much she tried to shake her head; but it also prevented her from hearing in the alley.
But luckily, or rather unluckily, the Wolkein slowly stepped out from the alley, gaining several gasps from the civilians. Like it was some type of pantomime, and the bad guy had just walked out.
The body was the same shade of dirty white-grey of Wolkeins, bar from the colour of the armour that wrapped around the forelegs, forearms and top half of the chest. But there were more colours across the chest, both armoured and unarmoured chest. A mixture of dark green and dark red were splattered across the chest, neck and shoulders of the being; the green was still wet, trickling down the chest and neck. The dark red looked relatively dry, beginning to crust on the body.
But the head... The head differed the most from what the pair had gotten used to.
Several sections of the head was torn, seemingly by the creature itself, revealing what lay underneath. A dark grey skull, almost blending in with the colour of the skin. But other sections that were torn, around the mouth area, and this was where the highest concentration of blood was splattered across. Several jagged teeth were visible, each coated in blood. The mouth itself looked as though it was cut through the flesh to form itself.
No eyes were sported on the face, only indents in where they should be. Yet it seemed to know where the two Warriors standing before it were, seeing as it was staring right at them, and made a low snarling sound.
"That's.. fucking wrong," Tanya bluntly commented.
The Wolkein rushed at Isaac and Tanya suddenly, letting out an ungodly growing-hiss, its arms flaying around wildly in attempts to strike the two Warriors, but the two split up and kept swerving and ducking to avoid the clawed strikes.
Given the option of either Warrior, the Wolkein turned on Isaac and threw all of its attacks at him, the Warrior making every attempt to avoid its claws. He saw droplets of the strange green slime fly off of the creature, splattering the ground.
Several shots were fired behind Isaac, most of them hitting the creature, though he felt a few shots land on his back. He glared behind him at the few officers, their bodies tensing up more when the Red Ranger turned to look at them.
He went to turn fully to look at the police, but a clawed hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him across the street. By this stage, the crowds had dispersed enough so that only a few desperate ones remained, trying to get a good picture or videos for YouTube.
Isaac collided into the side of one of the buildings, indenting the wall and throwing bricks in all directions. He groaned lowly, pressing his hands into the wall either side of him and pushed himself free, collapsing to the floor, bricks all around him.
"Definitely no normal Wolkein," Isaac uttered to himself, pushing up to his feet and glared up at the Wolkein-like creature, as it stumbled across the street towards him. He saw Tanya in the corner of his vision, her curved-blade drawn as she slowly approached the creature from the side.
"Tanya, no. This fucker's mine. See what you can learn from MUTT about it," Isaac said through the comms, drawing his own sword and bringing his Howler-mounted arm back down to grip the handle.
The creature titled its head slightly as Isaac took his stance before him, before it began hissing once more and rushed at Isaac. It struck its clawed hand at him, but he managed to block the attack and deliver a head-butt in return.
The creature stumbled back, its head shaking briefly, before it hissed venomously at Isaac and rushed at him, claws flying in all directions, all aimed at Isaac. The Warrior hoping he could keep up with the attacks, and deflect all of claws.
But some landed; the first one across one of his arms, slicing clean through the armour and scratching his flesh. Isaac grunted in pain, briefly covering the flesh wound and ducking to avoid further attacks. He quickly drove a knee into its gut, and forcefully kicked it back.
"Fuck," he muttered, looking to the sliced section of armour; the section was the dark red, making it hard for him to make it out, but he briefly touched it, and a rare feeling flared up in him. Pain.
He was quickly reminded on the situation, however, when a gargling screech caught his attention, and he quickly raised the sword to block the attack. The creature began pushing Isaac back across the street, throwing attacks rapidly at Isaac, the clawed hands striking the sword, sending sparks flying.
Isaac went to swing the sword at the creature, but it ducked at the last second; the only thing he cut was thin air. He tried to bring the sword down on the creature, but felt his legs get taken out from under him. He thought he was going to land on the ground, but a swift strike in the chest sent him flying backwards.
His back landing on cold metal, buckling under his weight, and his sword was sent flying on the ground, dropping from the car bonnet he had landed on. Dazed, he tried getting up off of it and went for his sword, but a dirty white foot slammed on his wrist, further denting the car bonnet.
Grunting, Isaac looked up to see the creature bending down over him, the sharp fangs bare, hissing lowly as it lowered its head down to his visor. Small traces of the green slime slipped off of its teeth, landing across his visor. The moment it did, Isaac smelt… burning.
The HUD across his visor sparked briefly, twitching as small dots in his visor started to melt. Whatever this creature was producing, it could damage the suit.
He threw a punch at the creature with his free hand, but it caught his wrist and slammed it against the car. Isaac tried jerking out from under the creature, but it held him in place.
The low hisses sounded again, and Isaac was faced with a jaw-full of teeth, more slime threatening to drop from its teeth onto his body. It screeched loudly, and jerked its head down.
But another cry came from the creature, and Isaac felt a sudden rush of liquid splash onto his torso. He looked down and saw a thick mix of blood and that thick slime splashed across his stomach and the car bonnet.
And the tip of a spear was gouging through the creature's torso, the sharpened end barely millimetres from stabbing into him. He looked up, and the creature's body was growing limp, a silver hand gripping the shoulder to keep it from falling on Isaac.
The spear was removed from the torso, spilling more slime and blood across his body, and its body was thrown off the car's front. Isaac looked back up, and saw Matthew standing over him, offering a hand.
"Need help?" He asked.
"I'd appreciate it if you would take it off of me before spearing it," Isaac replied shortly, batting the hand aside and rolled off of the bonnet, though he did stumble a little, one hand clenching his torso, grunting under his breath.
"What's wrong?"
Isaac glanced up when he heard Natalie, as he saw her quickly approach him. Coming a stop, kneeling before Isaac, and took his hand. Pulling it away, and saw what lay beneath.
"Shit, that's not good," She commented. "Matt, take him back to the Den and get MUTT to look at him."
"Got it," Matthew replied, bending down to grab Isaac's upper arm, helping him to his feet. Isaac was quick to press his other hand against his stomach, the hand getting stained by the mix of red and green.
Moments later, he and Matthew were encased in bright light, and were gone from the street. All they left in their wake was the remains of the creature, a pair of utterly destroyed cars and a fucked-up road.
"What do we do now?"
Natalie looked back as Kyle and Tanya approached, both with their weapons draw. She went to respond, but fell silent when she heard a low, rapidly approaching siren. "We hide - see what happens," Natalie replied, gesturing to the top of the tall building opposite the street.
The three quickly ran, jumping up the side of the building and landing on the roof; leaving the street vacant of any Warriors, with just rubble, police and wrecked cars across the roads.
"Master…" Batibat said under a hushed whisper, dropping to one knee before the crystal-topped podium. The black crystal had glowing, red cracks running throughout it, the only thing appearing to keep it from breaking apart was the metal pendant-cage wrapped around it.
"What is it, Batibat?" The deep, echoing voice of her Master spoke. To her, he sounded more alive and ever before. As alive as a Demon could get, anyway.
"I have been watching the Humans for some time, and recently there has been some.. interesting developments."
"…Explain."
"It seems that... Fear has been experimenting with Wolkeins."
There was a moment of silence, in which Batibat held her breath. She knew her Master had requested not to mention the traitorous Warlord, since his betrayal of the Master. While Batibat wasn't sure exactly what Fear had been doing, Batibat knew he wasn't doing it for the Master.
Something in her gut told her that.
"Experimenting how?" Came the eventual response. The voice cold and low, seeming to vibrate the very ground and walls of the domain. Batibat lowered her gaze briefly at the tone, taking a moment before speaking.
"I... I'm not sure, Master. I... I will go to investigate, if that is what the Master wants."
"Yes…Investigate this matter. If this is something Fear is planning, I want to know. Go."
The final command was more like a growl than a simple voice. One that sent a great shiver down Batibat's spine. The Master was growing in power, but wasn't there yet. He needed more power.. more time.
"At once, Master," Batibat replied, casting her gaze downward as the dark red energy slowly dimmed. While they were still present, they didn't stand out as much as when they were glowing brightly.
She swiftly rose to her feet, brushing a bit of dirt off of her knee and briskly turned to walk away from the podium on which the pendant sat on. She needed to make some preparations before she could go into the Human Realm…
"Ah... Fuck, that stings," Isaac grunted through grit teeth, arching his head back to look at the ceiling, his hands clenching and unclenching into fists repeatedly. MUTT stood beside him, a small device in his hand, a light red beam reaching from the device to Isaac's torso. The wide beam going over the width of the acidic mixture burning through his armour.
"This is a strange compound. If this creature is Wolkein-like is how you described, it would have taken a while before it would have been created," MUTT informed, placing the scan down and picked up another, triangle-shaped device. He pressed a small red button and it slowly floated off of his hand, and moved over Isaac's still-armoured form.
As it lowered across his stomach and began cleaning up the combination of liquids, Matt looked back at Savage, as the two watched the procedure happen. "You see anything like this when the other guys were around?" He asked, his helmet resting under his arm.
"Not like this. This is new," Savage muttered softly, watching as the slime-and-blood combination was removed from Isaac's armour, several beeps coming from the device, as it combed through the liquids and prevented it from causing any more damage.
Once the last of the liquid was removed, MUTT summoned the device back to his hand and moved back over to the central podium, placing the device on a console piece and tapped a few keyboards.
"Keep an eye on Isaac," MUTT instructed, grabbing a small, pen-shaped device from a hole in the controls, and handing it over to Savage. The Wolf took the device and walked back over to Isaac, while Matthew moved along to stand beside MUTT, watching him do his thing.
Isaac groaned lowly, trying to push himself into a sitting up position, but Savage's hand grabbed his shoulder somewhat firmly, and pushed him back down onto his back. "You'll want to stay still for this," Savage warned as he aimed the pen to Isaac's torso.
A small beam of green light came from the pen, and spread out across the width of Isaac's stomach, his body jerking suddenly at the stinging, burning sensation. He bit down on his lip to keep from shouting out, his hands clenching into tight fists, and blood soon came from his lip.
"FUCK!" He eventually shouted out, all of his muscles tensing up and a blood vessel making itself known on the side of his forehead.
"Relax, you'll thank me in the long run," Savage said, as small columns of smoke came from points across both Isaac's skin and armour. From what skin was visible, that had been damaged from the strange mixture, slowly sizzled and Isaac felt the burning sensation continue. Isaac managed to pick his head up enough to hear the sizzling, but he saw what appeared to be his skin starting to grow back in places it had sunk in.
"We got anything on what's in the blood, MUTT?" Savage asked when the process was complete, turning the pen-shaped device off, and moving away. Now he wasn't being held down, Isaac slowly pulled himself to sit up, pressing a hand to his stomach briefly.
He found no blood on his hand when he pulled it back, and looked down; while ever so different in colour to his actual skin, it looked close enough.
"This is.. odd," MUTT said, tapping one of the many keyboards before him, looking at a smaller screen buried beneath the other screens.
"What is it?" Savage asked, placing the device across another keyboard and standing at MUTT's other side, copying Matthew.
"The mixture of chemicals present, specifically in the blood, which are present uniquely in the human body."
"You're saying that this thing is human?" Matthew asked, gesturing to the small screen, showing various charts and graphs.
"At least part human. I will need to do deeper scans and analyses before I can come to a conclusion," MUTT explained, turning to look at Savage. "Thankfully, the acidic qualities of the liquid weren't enough to permanently cause damage to Isaac. And the synthetic skin has successful repairs the damage down."
"This.. is fucking weird," Isaac said, prodding the fake skin that was, essentially, burnt into the rest of the skin. He pushed himself off of the table he had been placed on, and slowly walked over to the other three. Gathering his helmet, he carried it over to the others.
"So, until you get that sort of shit, what are we going to do?" Isaac asked, looking to Savage first, then to MUTT.
"At the current moment, I'd suggest trying to avoid direct conflict with these creatures," MUTT advised.
"I say dismember them quicker. Cut the head off, before they have a chance at getting at you," Savage butted in.
Isaac glared briefly at Savage, while Matthew merely exhaled lowly through his nose and rubbed his face in irritation.
"And what should we tell the other three?" Matthew eventually asked, pulling his head back from his hand.
"Tell them to keep watch, and report in on anything that happens," Savage instructed.
And at that moment, Isaac's Howler started to glow and let out a growl, the wearer glanced between the others briefly, before tapping the crystal and said, "Yes?"
"Isaac? We've got a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"The 'Shady-Government-Being-Shifty' kind of problem," Tanya responded, leaning over the edge of the building, scanning the streets below. Said street was void of any civilians, more police filling in their place and cruisers littered the street, sirens blaring. Sitting in the middle of the cluster of police cars, besides an utterly ruined car, was the black SUV Tanya had spotted approaching the area at speed.
And several armed, SWAT-like officers came piling out of the SUV, swarming the area, when a large black van came through the area, this one filled with unarmed, but protected soldiers with large, tent-like covers which they placed over the remains of the Wolkein-creature.
"What are they doing exactly?"
"Haven't got a clue, can't see from here, but they seem very interested in the Wolkein that nearly dissolved you."
Tanya heard an exhale through the comms, and she tried her best to suppress a smirk. "Just keep an eye on what they're doing," Isaac added.
"Got it boss," Tanya replied, a trickle of sarcasm in her voice, before cutting off comms before Isaac had a chance to respond to her.
"You done pissing Isaac off?" Kyle asked, taking a seat against the raised edge of the building and leaned back. Tanya looked across at Kyle briefly, before looking back at Natalie.
She shook her head briefly, and Tanya knew she was smirking underneath her helmet. "I'm never gonna get tired of that," She replied.
Kyle scoffed, but shook his head lightly.
"They still there?"
Another officer looked over his shoulder, eyes briefly glancing up to the roof top, the brief flashes of black, yellow and white stood out against the overcast sky. "Yeah, they're still there," He replied.
"What do you reckon they're waiting for?" The female officer replied.
"They're waiting to see if you fail at doing your job," Clint replied, the Division 13 soldier walking by the pair of officers as they talked, his rifle in hand, trigger finger resting against the side of the weapon.
The two officer glared at Clint briefly, before looking away by the time he walked off.
Clint walked around several other officers, working his way around the parked SUV's before slowly slipping between the white, plastic curtain, separating the outside world with what was going on inside.
Upon entering, he saw several forensic-style people in all white body suits, masks and goggles moving delicately around a smashed car, and the speared body that lay beside it. He looked around briefly, before his eyes found the person he was looking forward.
One hand holding the rifle's grip, he walked across the enclosed area and came to a stop, standing beside E. The agent stood silent, watching as the forensic people carefully gathered the remains of the body. Some moved back and away when they discovered their gloves were burning off, but others quickly moved in to replace them.
E glanced aside briefly at Clint, before looking back at the body. "Rylee recovering?"
"She's recovering well, despite her protests," Clint responded, his eyes focused on the body as it was shifted into a body bag, and slowly zipped up. All that remained on the floor, once the body was removed, was a small puddle of the strange dark green/red mixture.
"I'll be putting you in the van with the specimen," E instructed, looking aside at Clint as a team of three forensics carried the body bag over the car's crumpled bonnet, and onto a collapsible body trolley.
"Understood," Clint responded, going to follow slowly after the forensics, but E placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him momentarily.
"If the Rangers intervene.. you know what to do," E instructed.
Clint glanced back at E briefly, before nodding slowly. "Yes sir," He replied. E nodded slowly, and released his hand from Clint's shoulder.
Now free, Clint followed, then escorted the forensics through the white dividers of the investigators cover. E watched them go, his hands coming back to rest behind his back. They remained there as his phone suddenly rang.
"Yes?" E asked, the phone raised to his ear. "Ah, Miss Fairweather. Glad you could return my calls."
"Hey, they're on the move," Natalie said, lightly nudging Tanya, and gestured to over the edge of the building.
Tanya looked across at Natalie, before gently kicking Kyle's leg and gestured for him to get up. She then looked over the edge of the building, hands resting on the raised side. Kyle quickly scrambled to his feet and he too looked over the edge of the building.
They saw a group of white-covered forensics wheeling something on a body trolley out of the forensic tent, accompanied by an armed Division 13 soldier. They walked through the police and their cruisers, and approached the side of a large, black van. They opened the back doors and slowly slid the body trolley into it. The back doors were closed up after a couple of the forensics, as well as another pair of soldiers, climbed in the back.
The solider that had initially come out of the cover moved around to the passenger side, and climbed in.
"We following them?" Kyle asked, looking across at the two females.
"Savage, want us to tail these guys? They're taking that Wolkeins'' body with them," Tanya asked into her Howler, keeping an eye on the truck.
"Yes, follow them. And get the Wolkeins' body off them. If they get away with that, who knows what they'll use it for," Savage replied.
"Basically, fuck them up and get the body," Isaac's voice said over the comms. "We'll come and help you."
"No, we can handle this. We don't need you getting the ego, thinking you're the answer to all of our problems," Tanya responded, smirking under her helmet. It quickly vanished when she added, "Besides, you need to rest. Matt, you come help us."
"On it," Matthew's voice came over the comms.
Tanya lowered the Howler, cutting comms off, and aimed all of her focus on the truck, which had yet to move off.
"Uh, Tanya?" Kyle asked, his attention not on the truck ahead of them. Rather, something to his left.
"What?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of the vehicle.
"We may have a slight, small problem."
"Mind giving me at least some sort of idea?" Tanya asked, turning her attention to Kyle.
Instead of responding verbally, Kyle simply gestured to the side, down on the road, but roughly at a small alley, hidden between the next two buildings over. Tanya looked over at spot he was gesturing to, and for a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Stranding just inside the alley, taking partial cover behind a pile of trash bags, was her. Tanya was there.
"Um.. who is that?" Kyle asked.
"The bitch who killed my Father," Tanya said, snapping out of the freeze and clenched her fists around the edge of the building with such force that Kyle had to pull back from the edge, seeing a large crack forming around her hands.
"Hey, they're moving off," Natalie pointed out, gesturing down ahead of them. Sure enough, the engine of the truck had turned over into life, the exhaust churning out fumes, and it slowly pulled away, moving down the street and picking up speed.
"You guys are going after that truck. This bitch is mine," Tanya said, stepping away from the edge of the building and began heading to the side, towards the next building, jumping over the alleyway and landing on the next building.
"Tanya, wait!" Kyle said, getting up to chase after Tanya, but Natalie grabbed his arm, holding him back. He looked back at her, trying to pull himself free.
"Let her take care of this, we've got this," Natalie said, letting go of his arm and gestured to the quickly moving truck. Kyle looked back at Tanya, who had quickly moved into a sprint across the rooftop, before looking back at Natalie.
"I hate it when you're right," He eventually said, quickly running in the other direction and running across the rooftop, following after the truck. Natalie quickly followed suite, rushing across the rooftops after Kyle. The two becoming mere blurs of white and black as they ran and jumped across rooftops, keeping track of the truck.
When the truck to a sharp left, the two quickly jumped off the side of the building and headed straight for the road, grabbing onto the side of the building and dragging chunks of rubble down with them as they tried to slow their descent.
Upon reaching the ground, they quickly became blurs once more, rushing after the truck, leaving piles of rubble on the ground in their wake. Windows smashed, chunks of the building torn from their places, and police looking in their direction, seeing the destruction.
"Should we follow them?" One officer asked.
"Don't bother. You've proven your peashooters don't work on them."
A number of officers turned as E exited the cover, through the dividers, phone in hand, tapping it once before slipping it back into his pocket. "Get your boys back to the precinct. My guys have it from here."
The officers glanced at one another briefly, looking between themselves and E, before a few began holstering their pistols and others followed, heading back to different cruisers.
E watched the police dispersed, his hands resting in his pockets, as he looked down the opposite end of the street. A quick flash of yellow was visible for a brief second, vanishing down an alley. Glancing around momentarily, E began walking in that direction, trying to make it seem as casual as he could make it.
Picking up to a slight jog to make it to the other side of the street, E walked along the sidewalk and towards the alley's entrance. Though faint, he could hear what sounded like fighting going on, along with the sounds of bricks smashing, and hitting the ground.
Pausing beside the alley entrance briefly, E closed his eyes and listened closely.
Two people.. two females.. one of the Rangers, obviously from the modified voice, and the other.. the other sounded young, but not too young. Fists landing, blows colliding with walls and large items getting thrown.
Slowly pulling his pistol from the holster on his hip, E slowly shifted closer and peaked around the corner of the alley.
He's assessments seemed correct. Two people were in the alley, throwing punches at one another and progressively moving deeper in the alley. One of them was a Ranger - the Yellow Wolf - and her modified grunts as she threw punches at the other person. A teen girl, probably no older than 17, was blocking and throwing her own punches in return, looking as though she was struggling to hold her own against this spontaneous attack.
But when he went to move in and intervene, he saw something he really should have expected. The teen grabbed a hold of the Yellow Rangers' wrist when a fist came flying towards her, and managed to throw the Ranger over her body and onto a closed large trash container, the plastic nearly giving way under the force, and a short groan came from the Ranger.
Eyes widened momentarily, E pulled himself back behind cover and pulled his phone out, and slowly aimed it around the corner, tapping the 'RECORD' button that was present at the bottom of the screen.
"They following us?" The driver of the truck asked, checking in the wing mirror every few seconds. Panic was evident in his tone as he gripped the wheel tightly.
"Just shut up and focus on the damn road, OK?" Clint said, checking the mirror on his side, bringing the rifle off from the space between him and the driver, making sure it was primed and ready. The driver glanced at the rifle, a hint of doubt visible.
He sighed shakily, and turned to look back at the road. Thankfully, the lights were all green for them as they powered down the road. The lane dividers seemed to blur together.
In the back of the van, the people sitting in the back, three forensics, all in clean-whites, and an additional three Division 13 soldiers, were sitting on either side of the collapsed body trolley. Their bodies shifting with the movement of the truck.
Silence was the only noise within the back of the truck, the only sounds came from outside, the wind clashing against the front of the speeding vehicle.
But something much more present, and powerful, made itself known to the truck.
The metal frame behind the head of one of the D-13 soldiers suddenly gained a forceful dent, smashing right in the back of the head of the soldier, sending him flying to the opposite side of the truck. He groaned lowly, his nose bent to the left and bleeding, as the other soldiers got up. A couple went over to check on him, while others moved closer to investigate the large dent.
Like someone had decided to shoulder-barge against the side of the truck.
Another dent slammed into the same side of the truck, several bolts holding the metal plates together pinging off, ricocheting off of the opposite side and coming to rest shortly afterwards.
"The fuck is going on?" One of the D-13's asked, taking a step closer to the dents, glancing at the other D-13's and the forensics.
"It's the fucking Power Rangers," Another D-13 said, cocking the prime of his rifle back and bringing it up to his shoulder. He slowly drew a step closer, trying to compensate for the bumping and sudden swerving of the truck.
"Shit, shit, shit!" The driver exclaimed, taking a sharp turn down another road, the truck swerving sharply, the tires marking themselves against the road.
"Just keep driving," Clint instructed, strangely calm given the current situation as he rolled down his window and looked back, his short hair getting whipped up against the high winds.
A flash of white caught his attention, just behind the truck. He leaned more against door, trying to get a better look, but he saw nothing; the flash didn't appear again. Grunting slightly in frustration, Clint pulled himself back into the truck and said, "They're toying with us. Get us fucking out of here."
"Guys! They're trying to get in here!" The muffled voice of one of the soldiers said, followed by muffled banging from the back of the truck.
"Just hang tight! We're trying to get out of the city!" Clint shouted back, before reaching for his rifle again and quickly went to aim out through the window again, but the driver stopped him.
"Shit!" He exclaimed, slamming on the breaks hard, Clint's body jerking forward, almost getting ripped out of his seat, had he not had his seatbelt on. He was brought back to the seat when the screeching tires brought the vehicle to a stop.
"What the fuck was that for?" Clint snapped, glaring at the driver, who remained quiet, seemingly shaken, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly he was sure his knuckles would go permanently white.
He slowly unclasped one hand, and pointed in front of them. Clint looked forward, and he slowly reached for the pistol at his holster, setting the larger, easy-to-see rifle to one side, but before he could pull the weapon out entirely, a blue blur suddenly shot across the front of the truck, right by his window.
Clint grunted suddenly in pain, his right arm being held twisted at an odd angle, like just a fraction more pressure would dislocate it, his trigger finger firmly twisted in the guard for the pistol's trigger, forcing his entire arm to get twisted. He looked to the window, and his glare hardened, gritting his teeth, as he came face-to-face with the Blue Ranger.
"Now, now. You'll end up hurting someone with that," He said, tapping the pistol slightly, sending a pained feeling rolling through Clint's arm, electing another grunt from the soldier. "Well, someone apart from us, anyway."
Clint looked back to the driver of the truck, but found that he had problems of his own. The Black Ranger was at the opposite side, a fistful of the driver's clothing and armour in his hand, the sunlight gleaming off both Ranger's visors.
"You find what we're looking for here, Omega?" The Blue Ranger called, looking towards the back of the truck. It was at that moment, Clint heard muffled shouting coming from the back of the truck, followed by suddenthuds.
"Well, they left it all packed up for us to pick up. Wasn't that kind of them?" A modified voice came from behind the truck, followed by another thud of a heavy weight on tarmac.
"Very kind," The Blue Ranger replied, twisting the pistol, and thus Clint's arm, harder, forcing the soldier to twist his body slightly to compensate. "Now, we're going to let you go, and you're going to be a good little boy scout and get going."
"I'm going get you back for this," Clint growled, glaring at the Blue Ranger.
A modified chuckle came from the Ranger, before responding, "That'll be the day, dipshit." A low growling made itself known, all of a sudden, and the Blue Ranger raised his other wrist to his helmet, looking aside at it briefly. "Yeah, what is it? Toying around with this fucker."
"If you're quiet done, I need some help with this bitch! She's-!"
Another altered voice came over the comms, sounding strangely feminine, before getting cut off sharply. The Blue Ranger looked across at the Black Ranger, before gesturing back with a jerk of his head. Almost at the same time, the two released the driver and Clint, and were gone in flashes of black and blue.
"Yeah, what is it? Toying around with this fucker."
"If you're quiet done, I need some help with this bitch! She's-!"
Tanya was cut off when she was struck from the side, with such force that she was sent flying into the side of the alley, almost going through the wall of the building.
Shaking her head, she quickly pushed herself to her feet again and dodged a punch thrown at her, the fist slamming into the brick wall, making the indent deeper. Tanya threw a pair of punches at the other Tanya, blocking a punch from it and delivering a head-butt.
The other Tanya stumbled back, a feral snarl escaping through her grit teeth, as it threw wild punches and kicks to Tanya, but the morphed Tanya blocked the majority of the attacks, and avoided the rest of them, managing to bounce up and over the other, flipping in the air and landing behind.
When the other Tanya turned to throw a punch, Tanya blocked it with one forearm and threw a glass bottle at her, shattering across her face, tearing the flesh. A loud hiss came from it, green blood escaping the large cut across her cheek.
Tanya shifted back into a fighting stance, fists clenched as the scarred Tanya turned to face her, growling lowly, green blood oozing down the side of her face, and her eyes turned from her own eye colour to a sickly green.
"You're going to regret that," The scarred Tanya snarled, her voice changing from Tanya's own and to a tone the real Tanya knew too well...
"You Bitch!" She snapped, throwing several punches at 'Tanya', who she now knew to be the she-Demon they had faced multiple times.
Batibat put her arms together, blocking the punches thrown at her but failed to deflect the arms when they grabbed her wrists. Tanya shifted her feet and swung Batibat around, slamming her threw the already dented wall, smashing right through the side of the building.
Tanya stood in the large gap created, bricks still falling, and eventually stepped through it. Looking around, she discovered they had busted through the side of a Korean Hairdressers; several people were in seats, in the middle of getting their hair cut, but they all turned to look at the newly formed hole to the back.
"Get out," Tanya bluntly ordered, stepping through the hole entirely and looking around briefly. The civilians, and their hairdressers, remained motionless for a few seconds, stunned. "NOW!"
At the shout, they quickly leapt to their feet and rushed towards the door, pushing and shoving each other in order to get out. Tanya turned back from the door, looking around for where Batibat had landed.
But someone grabbed her from the side, by the throat, and threw her across the other side of the business, slamming into a large mirror, shattering it into several pieces. Batibat slowly approached Tanya, more and more sections of the 'Tanya Skin' she had adopted started to peel away, revealing her true form underneath. The writhing skin sections fell to the ground, evaporating into black-and-green smoke. Soon, her long black dress/jacket combo had returned, and her long black hair was flowing down her shoulders once more.
Tanya pulled herself from the mix of mirror shards and rubble, and found herself looking at Batibat, in her true form. She slowly clenched her fists, and drew her curved blade. "I'm going to enjoy fucking you up," She snapped, adjusting her stance with the blade.
"Funny, I was going to say something similar," Batibat replied, a twisted smirk twitching at the corner of her lips, and drew a pair of her own daggers.
"What? You were going to start the fight without us?"
Both Tanya and Batibat turned to look at the source of the voice, and found Matthew and Kyle standing in the hole they had created. "I thought we agreed that me and Kyle were the ones that could fuck property up, so they don't hate all of us," Matthew commented, grabbing a loose brick around the hole and pulling it free, before letting it fall to the ground.
"Yeah.. you do a shit job, T," Kyle added.
"Shut it, the pair of you. This bitch is the one that killed my Dad, and you're going to help me kill her, right here and now," Tanya said, or rather, commanded.
"I wouldn't mess around now, Matt," Kyle whispered, his tone changing entirely when he heard Tanya's, looking to Matthew briefly, but jerking his knuckle-dusters into the backwards position, and slowly moved into the ruined business.
Matthew followed suit, his spear in hand as he moved around the opposite side, the three Warriors surrounding Batibat.
The She-Demon looked around slightly, shifting between each of the Warriors, before looking back through the hole she had helped create. Her eyes widened briefly, however, when she saw something.
"I'm wasting my time with you, Warriors, I've got what I came for," The she-Demon hissed, looking between the three Warriors again before snapping her fingers sharply. A black-and-green portal swirled beneath her, and she slipped through, just as the Warriors rushed to attack her.
The three simply ended crashing into one another, weapons getting scattered everywhere. When she saw that they hadn't got the Demon, Tanya shouted out in frustration, slamming her fists into the polished floor of the hairdressers, cracking the surface.
"That bitch!" She shouted, and it looked as though the remaining mirrors shook at the pitch of her shout.
"We'll get the slippery fucker next time," Matthew groaned, untangling himself from the others and ending up falling back onto the floor, arms spread out.
Yet Tanya remained seething, her hands clenched tightly, and small shards of the floor was getting crushed into dust. Kyle could see this, and went to put a hand on her shoulder, but hesitated, simply letting his hand fall again, and looked to his Howler.
"Uh, Savage? Natalie get there yet with the body?" He asked, glancing shortly between the other two.
"She's just arrived."
"She just arrived," Savage said, looking across at the opposite side of the Den, as Natalie stepped forward from her column of white light, a large, black body bag carried over her shoulder. Upon reaching one of the raised tables, she threw it up and across the table.
"Now, let's see what this fucker looks like when it's not attacking," Isaac said, gesturing to the body bag as he and MUTT walked over, Savage hung back, leaning against the controls and desks.
MUTT moved in first, standing to the opposite side of the table to Natalie, a quick glance up between them, and Natalie stepped back, going around to join Isaac, standing at his side. She brought her hands up and removed her helmet, a faint hiss sounding off as her hair came down and her helmet was brought under her arm.
"All I need is a direct sample of the creature's DNA, and to examine the claws to understand their genetic makeup, and see how it's possible for their ability to go through the Armor's defences," MUTT explained, gripping the zip of the body bag and slowly pulled it down.
One of the creature's arms flopped out of the bag as it opened, the metallic claw-ended fingers tapping against the table's edge, a small couple of mixed coloured droplets dropping onto the table. Thankfully, unlike the Warriors' armoured suits, it didn't start smouldering and smoking. MUTT eventually took the bag away from the creature entirely, and turned his attention back to the still creature.
Sticking a syringe directly in the chest of the creature, MUTT drew the strange mixture of blood and acid into the syringe, and pulled it free once it was full. He then moved back to the computers, briefly looking to Savage.
Savage looked back at MUTT, before slowly stepping aside. MUTT then moved forward once again, and he was able to stick the end of the syringe into a port beside a couple of the keyboards. As he tapped away, the liquid slowly fed into the machine, leaving the syringe empty after nearly a full minute. The screen before MUTT was soon filled with several images, flicking through them rapidly.
Far too fast for either Isaac or Natalie to keep pace, the latter of which had to look away, blinking rapidly to stop a flashing that was sticking to her eyes.
"Strange."
"What is?" Isaac asked, nudging Natalie's shoulder briefly before gesturing to the screen; the images had stilled, focusing on two.
"The compounds of this creature's fluids. While the majority of the components are of Demonic origin, but the minority.. this strange compound that explains the blood's acidic nature.. is Human."
"What?" Natalie asked, blinking slowly as she looked back at MUTT, before looking to Isaac, his expression mirroring her own - surprised, yet with a sliver of curiosity hidden behind it.
"Uh.. any sort of idea on whose blood it is? Or is it, like.. a cocktail?" Isaac asked.
"Interesting you say that. I've got a test currently running to see if there is one particular strong strand of DNA present, and comparing it to recently recorded deaths in the United States," MUTT said, closing one screen. This revealed yet more flashing images. While one side remained stationary, focused on a simple, microscopic image of the blood cells, the other flashed rapidly. The images flashing through different faces, changing between gender, skin colour and age. Before long, one image stuck on the screen and the surrounding areas around the two pictures flashed green.
A match.
"We have a match," MUTT confirmed, tapping at a keyboard to bring up the latest images' details. The picture, of a dark-skinned female, looking around her 30s, along with her details.
"Charlotte Nash," MUTT read, enhancing the details available to them. A rather extensive, detailed history of her past and present. "Residency, Pax Valley. Date of Death.. 15th November, 2017."
"Wait? November 15th? Is there.. there a reason for death?" Isaac asked, stepping forward briefly to look over MUTT's shoulder.
"Why do you ask?" Natalie asked, looking at Isaac.
"Don't you remember?" he asked.
MUTT's fingers tapped the keyboard briefly, before he said, "Cause of Death – Complications. Additional Notes – Died outside Pax Valley Community Hospital."
Natalie's eyes widened at the realization, and she said, "She's one of the people from Fear's attack on the hospital."
Natalie looked aside at Isaac, who had grown quiet when MUTT had given the reason for the person's death, stepping away from he had been standing, walking around the Den's central room. Eventually coming to a stop on the opposite side, taking a slow sit down, bringing his hands up to his face, rubbing his jaw and cheeks slowly.
It didn't go unnoticed by the others; Savage looked to MUTT, who both looked to Natalie. Natalie looked back at the two, before mouthing 'what?' Savage gestured to Isaac, whose back was to them, and gestured, 'do something'.
Tightening her jaw briefly, Natalie slowly turned and walked over to Isaac, her footsteps sounding unbelievably loud in the silence of the room. When she eventually reached the seat beside him, sitting down to face the opposite way. She raised her hand, and gently placed it over his shoulder.
Though subtle, she felt his muscles tighten under the armour. He glanced briefly over his shoulder, but his gaze quickly looked down again. "It could have been her…"
"Isaac…" Natalie started, but was cut off.
"My mum.. it could have been her... I-I would've been.. fighting her…" Isaac started, clearly trying to keep his voice level. But the way his shoulder rose and fell quickly, Natalie knew he was trying to keep himself under control. "W… Would've.. ki-k…"
Natalie's hand moved down to rub his back gently, shifting closer. "Don't. Just.. don't say it."
"I.. would've killed her.. and I... I wouldn't have even.. even noticed…"
"Isaac," Natalie said, somewhat firmly, as she shifted against Isaac more, turning around to face Isaac's direction, one arm going around his shoulder. The hand moved up to rub her thumb against the side of his neck, closing her eyes.
She could feel his neck twitching slightly, and the shaky breath was a clear enough sign to Natalie.
The final sign was the way Isaac quickly brought one hand to his eyes, rubbing his cheeks briefly.
Natalie looked back at both Savage and MUTT, shaking her head briefly. Looking to MUTT, who nodded knowingly and turned back to face the screen, tapping one key. Immediately, the screen vanished, leaving it black.
Several flashes of colour filled the main room briefly, before the other three Warriors were teleported into the den. Natalie looked back again, seeing the other three walk forward, Tanya the first to notice them, and made a beeline towards the two, walking across Matt and Kyle, forcing them to step back briefly, before they too noticed the reason.
Tanya slowed her approach, briefly looking at Isaac before looking to Natalie, gesturing 'what happened?'
Natalie simply shook her head, but gestured for Tanya to take her place, slowly pulling her arms away from Isaac, and let Tanya take her place. Her arm going around Isaac's shoulder, taking her other hand to remove her helmet. Placing it on her other side, and sat in silence with the Red-clad Warrior.
Kyle looked towards Tanya and Isaac briefly, before he heard the very faint sound of crying.
Crying.
"What happened?" Kyle asked, looking to Savage and MUTT, stepping up to them. While he was trying to keep calm, there was a definite aggressiveness to his movement.
Savage straightened up and met Kyle, the two standing toe-to-toe briefly, Kyle glaring up at Savage, their glares meeting, before Kyle eventually dropped the glare and stepped back.
"I will keep a record on any more of these creatures we encounter," MUTT said eventually. The silence was starting to become stuffy, filling the Den, even with his robotic voice, the sound alone helped.
"Good. Best to keep a record of any more that show up," Savage agreed softly.
~Epilogue~
"That could.. have gone better..."
Clint grunted briefly, glaring at the doctor working at his shoulder, he'd taken off his jacket and shirt, his weapons resting on the desk to his other side, gloved hands worked around his left shoulder, several large bruises along the arm. But they looked relatively old, not recent. Several other old cuts were visible across his exposed torso, one running up his shoulder and over his back.
"You'll live."
He looked up at the sudden voice, but only relaxed a little when he saw it was E, standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. In one hand, a pair of coffee cups in a cardboard holder. E stepped into the small, dark white room, surgical equipment scattering across the desks and the walls of the room.
Looking like a temporary operating theatre.
Setting the holder down on the desk, beside Clint's rifle, and handed one of the takeaway cups to Clint, who took it in his free hand, and took a small sip of the drink. "Tastes like fucking dishwater," Clint grunted, setting the cup down on the floor beside him.
"Well, personal preference," E replied, taking a sip of his own cup, setting it back down on the desk, and walked around the room briefly. After another few minutes the doctor seeing to Clint gave him the all clear, and left the room, leaving it with just the two of them.
"So what do you want? This about losing the body?" Clint asked, getting to his feet and walked over to the clothes hanger, holding his shirt and jacket.
"Little bit of yes, little bit of no," E replied.
"What's with you and doing all that cryptic wording and shit? Is it the British side of you?" Clint asked, sliding his shirt over and on him, and began to do the same with his jacket.
"I've told you to not mention that again."
Clint paused momentarily when he heard E's tone. Normally, he kept his tone civil and monotone, but this.. this meant he was treading on thin ice. "Sorry," Clint eventually said, putting his jacket back on and approached; reaching for his weapons. Holstering his pistol first, and reached for his rifle.
"Either way... Yes, it's a pain that you've were unable to get the creature's body back here, but.. I think we've got a plan in the works."
"Have we?" Clint asked, faking amusement. Glancing to the side at E, the Agent just looking at the opposite side of the room, one hand wedged in the pocket of his coat, and the other pulled his phone out of the pocket.
"Yep."
A phone screen was suddenly presented in front of him, a video playing, kept relatively still; surprising for a phone recording.
It showed two figures, fighting down a narrow alley, throwing punches at one another, the missed punches smashed into the wall, shattering brick. One was the Yellow Ranger, clad in her yellow armour. Which was a strange difference to the others they had seen around the country…
The other, a human, seemed to be able to hold her own against the Yellow Ranger.
"So.. what? We've got a girl that can hold her own against a Ranger? We going after her now?" Clint asked.
"Nope. See, the problem we have here is.. that girl there, fighting the Yellow Ranger? That's our Yellow Ranger."
Clint turned to look at E fully, raising an eyebrow. "…Have you been smoking or some shit, E?"
"I'm serious," E responded, glaring at the soldier momentarily before he slipped his phone into his pocket. "I'll explain later. I'm going to need you help, we're getting a load of stuff coming here."
"What stuff?" Clint asked, following E as they exited the room, entering what appeared to be the inside of a large warehouse.
"Documents belonging to a one Angela Fairweather, former head scientist of the Lightspeed Aquabase. Her research should help us in this matter."
"Why've you taken research from a privately militarized Power Ranger Operation?"
"Simple, we're facing similar threats. Demons, Clint. Demons."
"And what about the Rangers we've got to deal with? What's going to happen to them?"
E stopped momentarily, looking aside at Clint. "We'll leave the good people of America to make that decision. Hopefully, they'll back the Suppression Act, and we'll be able to.. deal with the Rangers our way."
Well, that was Episode 11. Will try to get the next episode out within the next two weeks.
-Nf991 signing out.