Episode 13 – A Lone Howl
"How much shit do you reckon we're going to be in?"
"A shit-tonne?" Isaac responded under his breath, glancing aside at Natalie. The questioner glared back at the British teen, but she quickly looked away after a brief glare exchange.
The pair of them, along with Matthew on Natalie's other side, entered the high school for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was a surreal experience, being back within these walls after so long away. Hell, Isaac was surprised that they didn't get caught up with that upon entering the grounds.
Or getting on the bus, for that matter.
"What for? Not turning up, or the fact we look like we're part of a secret fight club?" Matthew quietly added in a low grunt.
Isaac glanced to other teen, before taking his phone from his pocket and flicking the lock off, opening up the camera App in the selfie position.
This allowed him to see his face - a number of faded and fresh scars across it. A few standouts were a faded one that cut through the edge of his right eyebrow, and the faintest traces of a black eye still present across his right eyelid.
But by his reckoning, the others were just as bad; Matthew looked as though he was dragged through a barbwire fence backwards, and Natalie had a black eye over her right eye, and a relatively fresh cut was visible on her bottom lip.
Their appearances did draw the attention of a few students as the three passed, whose faint whispering could be heard.
"Times like this I fucking hate these things," Natalie whispered under her breath, shaking her head slightly, a faint ringing in her ears from all the chatter. Matthew merely grunted quietly, hands stuffing themselves deeper into his pockets.
Isaac faintly hearing the volume button of his phone getting pressed repeatedly.
Suddenly, a high-pitch screech caught their attention, momentarily stunning the three of them, Isaac and Natalie more so than Matthew, but the three were all affected regardless.
When the screeching ended, they heard the reason behind the sound; a PA system. "This is a student announcement; would Isaac Bryant, Matthew Hardy and Natalie Franklin report to the Principal's Office. That's Mr. Bryant, Mr. Hardy, and Ms. Franklin to the Principal's Office."
By the time the voiceover ended, Isaac glanced either side of him, to both Matthew and Natalie. Both wore expressions hard to read, but Isaac had grown to know them better than they would have liked.
"Bit of a coincidence, don't you think?" Isaac uttered as he began walking through the corridor, the other two followed after him.
"Think he knows?" Natalie asked, slowing down when she was level with Isaac.
"Either he does, or the police do. We're in the shit, regardless," Matthew replied, coming level with the other two as they moved down the corridor, heading towards the Principal's Office. Several others looked across at the three, but not a word was spoken to them.
"Well.. what's new then?" Isaac asked, the slightest twitch of a smirk visible momentarily. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the three silently walked into the Principal's Office.
"Running late today, Kyle?"
Kyle rolled his eyes briefly, merely rubbing what sleep remained in his eyes away as he walked through the back door of the fast-food place. The other person, a red-headed female, walked in after him. "Jesus, you look like shit," The girl, Beth, commented.
Kyle side glanced at her, before he entered the employee break room and glanced to the side. His eyes landed on a small mirror someone has put up a while back, and he saw what Beth meant.
Several cuts were still visible across his neck and face, along with a large bruise forming under one of his eyes. Those Wolkeins weren't messing around last night…
"Eh, some fucker thought he'd try and mug me. Trust me, he got it worse," Kyle grunted, setting his bag down on a free chair, and slouched down onto one next to it.
"Did you go to the police about it?" Beth asked, putting her bag into one of the beat-up lockers and taking a seat opposite Kyle.
"Eh, they've got their plates full at the moment. Those Power Ranger fuckers, huh?" Kyle replied, seemingly relaxing against the chair. But on the inside, it was an entirely different story. Why the fuck did I mention the Rangers?! He internally screamed to himself, yet his external expression remained calm and inexpressive.
Thankfully, Beth didn't seem to pick up on any sort of nervousness from Kyle, as she got up and began making herself a coffee. "Still, they've got to have some people free for standard calls?" She asked, the water boiling audibly.
"You'd think that," Kyle grunted, slowly pulling himself to his feet and walked around the break room, his hands shifting in and out of his pocket. Trying to keep the hoodie on for as long as possible, he never realized how much he hated short-sleeved shirts until he realized the Howler wouldn't budge.
Another door opened, and both Kyle and Beth turned to see another guy walk through, already in the bright blue shirt - the uniform of the place - and looked in his early 20s. "Hey, uh, is Kyle in yet?" He asked.
"Why'd you ask, Greg? You look spooked," Beth asked, before a small smirk crossed her face. "You got caught with drugs again?"
"I'm clean, Beth," Greg responded gruffly.
"What's up?" Kyle asked, stepping towards Greg.
"There's some cops out front asking for you."
Kyle visibly tensed up at this, and it didn't go unnoticed.
"What'd you have to do to get the cops on your ass, Kyle?" Beth asked.
"Whatever it was, I didn't do it," Kyle muttered quietly, and slowly moved past Greg. "If shit starts going down, don't try and do some crazy shit."
"Can't promise that, but remember the important shit. 'It wasn't mine', and whatever else comes to mind," Greg said, while Beth tried to suppress a slight smile.
Kyle merely rolled his eyes with a slight grunt, and walked through the door. His breath catching in his throat when he caught sight of the cruisers through the glass, and a pair of officers standing at the counter. Shit, He thought to himself.
"Shit," Natalie muttered under her breath, as she filed into the Principal's Office after Isaac and Matthew. Her stomach suddenly grew sick, and felt as though she might have been sick. She was sure that the other two were feeling the same way, to some degree.
They had entered the Office, but Isaac pointed out something just before they entered - a strange, coppery smell was apparent, and that turned out to be a pair of police officers, standing at the back of the office, while the Principle himself was sitting at the desk, filling in a few pieces of paper.
Setting his pen down upon the door opening, he said, "Ah, you three. Sit down." The tone of his voice made both Natalie and Matthew know instantly, that they weren't brought here to get a pat on the back.
While Isaac eyed up the officers as they entered the room, the three entered and Matthew closed the door behind them, and each took a free seat opposite the desk.
"I believe you three have a pretty good idea as to why I've had you come here," The Principal asked, slowly closing his hands together as he switched between the three teens. All three seemed to avoid looking the Principal in the eye, looking anywhere but him and the officers standing behind them.
Exhaling sharply, the Principal removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose slowly, before he said, "Fine. Since none of you are going to speak up, let me tell you why I've brought you here."
"Your attendance records make it seem as though you've been here without a single day off, yet I've heard from several of the teachers, your teachers, that you have failed to turn up for a single lesson in the past six weeks."
"Care to give me an explanation?" he asked, looking between the three sharply.
"Any.. reason for the officers here?" Isaac eventually asked, his tone dry, as he gestured to the two officers behind the three teens. The other two spared glances at Isaac, while the Principal merely rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Officers Frank and Davidson are here because we have reasons to suspect you, or someone you are associated with, have hacked into our computer systems. This carries quiet a heavy punishment, which is bad for people in your stage in life," The Principal informed, glaring briefly at Isaac solely.
Isaac was the first to break the eye contact, and he heard Natalie talking, possibly trying to talk their way out of it, but he wasn't paying attention to the conversation.
What he was focusing on, were the officers.
Turning his head slightly, Isaac exhaled slowly and tried listening; hoping some of Savage's training would actually pay off…
Then, he heard it.
Lub-DUB. Lub-DUB. Lub-DUB.
'Heartbeat…but only one…' Isaac thought to himself, his eyes briefly glancing to the side. Briefly seeing the uniforms of the officers, but the faint heartbeat sound was fading in and out. Clenching his hand briefly under the desk, Isaac tried to focus on which officer wasn't giving off a heartbeat.
Or maybe his hearing was off.
"Now…" The Principal's voice broke through his head, causing him to open his eyes again and focus on the man opposite the desk. "Do you admit to these claims?"
"Hmm?" Isaac piped up, looking across at the Principal, and back to the officers. He then shifted to look at the two sitting either side of him. Natalie could have sworn she saw a small smirk cross his face momentarily. "Oh yeah, yeah. They're from us," Isaac said.
Both Matthew and Natalie looked sharply to Isaac, while the officers behind them seemed to straighten up against the wall. Isaac turned his head slightly, listening carefully again.
One heartbeat steadily grew faster, yet one was still missing…
Exhaling slowly, the Principal slowly sank back into his chair and rose to his feet. Straightening his shirt momentarily, he turned to face the Officers and said, "I'll.. leave them to you." With that, he carefully moved out from behind his desk and headed through the door, closing it slowly behind him.
With the Principal gone, one of the officer stepped forward, and began talking, reading the teens the rights he had said to others, potentially hundreds of time before.
"You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to speak to an atto-"
He was cut off as he was slowly getting the teens to stand up, and tried to get Isaac's arms behind his back so he could get his wrists handcuffed. But at that moment, Isaac glanced to Matthew briefly and nodded.
Slamming his head back, he felt it connect with the officer's nose and surely break it. The force sent the officer stumbling back, fumbling for his sidearm, while Isaac fell forward against the desk, seeing stars from forcefulness of his strike.
The officer pulled his gun out at long last, but before he could take aim, Matthew shoulder-barged him, sending the gun flying against the wall. The officer went to retaliate, but a blinding flash of white light blinded him momentarily. And the next thing he knew, a white, silver and black armoured hand was wrapped around his throat, connecting to the arm of the White Omega Warrior. All he saw was his own reflection in the tinted visor.
"Night-night," The feminine, mechanically-altered voice said, the grip tightening around his throat momentarily. But instead of closing entirely, or worse, breaking his neck, the officer was thrown aside, slamming right into the solid wall.
"Well, if we weren't in the shit then, we're in the shit now," Matthew commented, his chest rising and falling quickly, as he calmed down. He glanced aside at Isaac and Natalie, the former pulling himself from the desk and rubbing the back of his head, before they all heard something.
Clapping. Slow, almost sarcastic, clapping, followed by a voice.
"I would almost say that was.. impressive, Warriors. Almost."
The three turned sharply to the other officer. He remained unmoved from his position against the wall, his arms folding themselves back over his chest from the claps. But his eyes.. they were what caught them off.
Cracks in the skin around both eyes, like an old sidewalk, seeping a dark green glow. The eyes themselves were slowly fading to a dark grey, like ink leaking into water.
"Fear?" Isaac asked lowly, shifting into a defensive stance. Matthew copied him, while Natalie slowly drew her curved blade.
The 'officer' scoffed lowly, pushing himself off of the wall. Though subtle, small chunks of the face skin started to fall. Revealing a darker, black tone underneath, a far cry from Fear's stone-coloured features.
"Fear is no longer.. relevant to the Master," The 'officer' said, slowly stepping closer, the teens slowly stepping back, shifting into defensive stances. Both Isaac and Matthew raised their hands slightly, ready to act on their Howler.
"Then who are you?" Natalie demanded.
The 'officer' smiled, a dark, sinister smile. This created more cracks along the face and skin, causing more cracks and chunks to fall from the face, revealing a greater amount of black under-skin, with the faintest tint of red visible.
"I am Death. Plain and simple."
"Shit, shit, shit!" Kyle explained under his breath, slamming the staff only door at the back of the restaurant, and pressing himself against it. Taking deep breaths, he was made aware of the several sets of eyes that were now focused on him.
"How'd it go?" Beth asked, though Kyle couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or serious from her tone.
"Did you give the cops the slip or something?" Greg asked, getting up from his seat.
"You guys need to get out of here, now!" Kyle exclaimed, going to his locker to grab his stuff, his hands shaking to such a degree that he struggled to get the key in the lock.
"Whoa, whoa. What fucking happened?" Greg asked.
"Those officers.. they ain't officers," Kyle responded shortly, finally wrenching his locker open and grabbed his rucksack. "They're monsters."
"Everyone sees cops differently; monsters, Pigs, the filth.. take your pick," Greg shrugged, but Kyle just walked past him with a barge to the shoulder.
"I'm being fucking seri-!" Kyle shouted, but was cut off when the staff door was slammed open, getting knocked off its hinges, and thrown half way across the room, striking Greg, and collapsing on him. His body lay motionless on the ground, as Kyle turned his attention to the being standing in the doorway.
"This is a rather strange.. place," Batibat said slowly, walking through the blasted-open doorway. Accompanying her was a Wolkein, but clad in dark red armour rather than the traditional black armour they sported.
"Shit…" Beth said slowly, taking a few small steps back from Greg's motionless body.
"Get out of here, Beth," Kyle said, his eyes firmly staying on the slowly approaching Batibat. Beth rose to her feet slowly, looking between Kyle and the strange creatures.
"Listen to your friend, human. He seems to get a bit.. wolfish when others don't play well," Batibat hissed, her eyes darting from Kyle to the retreating Beth.
Giving one last look to Kyle, who merely cocked his head towards the back door, Beth made a quick run for it. Grabbing her bag on the way and rushed out the door, leaving Kyle alone with the two creatures. Kyle turned around to Batibat slowly, the two sharing a glare before he spoke at last.
"So, you know it's me?"
"It's hardly difficult, meat sack. You humans stink.. yet yours and the other Wolves' stench is much, much worse," Batibat said, a blade slowly slipping into her hand from her sleeve. Kyle took note of this, and slowly shifted into a better, more defensive stance.
At his movements, however, the armoured Wolkein growled lowly, sounding strangely gravely, as it stepped in front of Batibat slowly.
"Dispose of him," Batibat mused offhandedly, gesturing for the Wolkein to have at it.
Merely seconds after the command, the Wolkein rushed forward, Kyle barely having the time to activate his Howler and transform into his Black Delta armour before the Wolkein collided. The two were sent flying into the side of the room, smashing through tables and the desk. Slamming his fists into the creatures back repeatedly, in attempts to gain an advantage, but all Kyle did was anger the faceless creature more so.
He barely ducked his head as a punch was thrown, punching clean through the wall and out the other side. Head-butting the Wolkein, and causing small cracks to form on the perimeter of his visor, Kyle managed to get a hold of its armour and threw it back.
The creature landed on its back, slamming through another table. It tried to rise to its feet, but Kyle got to it first, stabbing through the chest armour with his curved blade, green blood squirting from the wound as it writhed, clawing at the blade rapidly, creating grooves in the aged metal. Kyle forcefully ripped the blade upward, slicing straight through the armour, and splitting the creature's head in two.
Gallons of green blood flooded from the split head, its body lying limp on the ground; the odd twitch of movement present, but otherwise, lifeless.
Breathing deep, metallic breaths, Kyle ripped the blade free, soaking both himself and the metal in the creature's blood as he stood over its body. Small splatters covered his visor, despite his attempts to wipe it clean, before being reminded of the other Demon across the room.
"Hmm.. I had hopes the New Ones would actually be of some use.. didn't happen, but I may have thought too far," Batibat mused, stroking her chin slowly as her other hand drew a small dagger from her sleeve. She began stepping closer to Kyle, who started backing up, holding the blade defensively.
"No matter. I want to feel you die myself."
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen, bitch," Kyle spat, his fingers drumming the handles.
A smug smirk tugged at the corner of Batibat's thin lips, as her other hand fell to her side; this hand too held a small dagger.
"Let us see if you are still worthy of the armour you wear," Batibat shot, but rushing forward, becoming a blur of shadows as she passed through the room.
But before her blade could strike his body, a blinding flash of black light encased Kyle. Just as Batibat's blade struck mere air. Just.. remnants of smoke, from his disappearance.
"Coward!" Batibat snarled, looking around wildly for the Black Warrior, but in the somewhat small confines of the room, there was no trace of him. Fuming, Batibat snapped her fingers and a portal appeared before her. She soon vanished through the portal, leaving a mess and dead Wolkein behind her.
Kyle stumbled into the alley, barely recovering from the teleportation; supporting himself on the wall instead of falling face first in a pile of garbage.
"What the hell was that?" He asked himself quietly, rubbing the side of his helmet as he raised his Howler to his visor. "MUTT? Got anything for me?" He asked, pressing a few buttons on the Howler, his heartbeat still racing from the previous encounter.
"Kyle, you must get over to Pax Valley High School. Isaac has informed us that the three of them there have encountered a Demon," MUTT's voice responded.
"Wait, what about Tanya? Anything happening with her?" Kyle asked.
"She's already headed there now. Quickly!"
"Alright, alright," Kyle cut the comms and tried to get his bearings on where he was, in relation to the high school. "OK," He told himself, exhaling slowly, before he rushed forward, vanishing into a blur of black and silver.
The door to the Principal's office burst open, splinters of the smaller chunks scattering across the floor, while larger chunks of the door blasted into a couple of unfortunate students who were walking by at that time.
With their bodies lying lifeless under the wooden fragments, blood scattered across the floor and hallway, the Red Alpha and White Omega Rangers were sent flying out of the office, leaving dents in the lockers they collided with.
Groaning lowly, Isaac quickly reached for his blade and tried getting up again. He barely got into a defensive stance before Matthew was thrown into him. The two falling onto the floor, weapons scattered as they were made aware of the figure walking through the doorway.
Large chunks of flesh-coloured plates fell from his body, revealing the black body that lay beneath. The body was thin, with the torso looking as though someone had tried gutting the creature but given up half way through. As such, the ribcage of the creature was sticking out, and the dark skin seemed to have healed around it.
The front of the neck looked as though someone had taken a knife to it, slicing through but giving up half way. Yet dried blood stuck to the front of the neck, coating the upper half of its chest. The creature's cheeks were cut from the corners of its toothy mouth, giving off what looked like a wider, sinister grin. Its eyes were a solid, milky white, no evidence of a pupil in sight.
"Fucking hell, someone's been reading some Creepy Pastas," Isaac groaned, pushing Matthew off of him and getting to his feet with the help of Natalie.
The three Warriors quickly got into defensive stances, holding their large blades, ready to attack, as the Demon slowly walked through the doorway, it's thin, long fingers gripping the doorframe - so thin that it was a surprise that the wooden frame started to crack under its fingers.
"The Master has grown weary of your constant presence.. a thorn in his side for far too long. But, like a thorn, it is insignificant for the Master to deal with personally," Death said, his voice a distant echo to it as he spoke. When he got through the doorway, it was clear it was a solid foot taller than the host body he had taken.
"Gotta admit.. he's a lot taller than I'd hoped," Matthew muttered under his breath.
"Doesn't matter; just means the fucker goes down that much harder," Isaac said, but a sudden scream down the end of the corridor caught the group off guard.
Down either side of the corridor, students and teachers had flooded out of their class rooms to see what the sudden noise was. And several of them reacted in this way upon seeing the three Rangers fighting this strange Monster, further more so when they noticed the couple of dead students near the Rangers' feet.
"Well, there goes any element of stealth," Natalie commented dryly, glancing up and down the corridor to the mixture of students and teachers. It wasn't long before they started running, making for the emergency exits.
Someone must have accidentally, or on purpose, set off the fire alarm as they made for the exit. The blaring alarms sounding throughout the building, causing severe ringing in the Rangers' ears.
Their hands flew to either side of their helmets, Matthew dropping to one knee, as groans and grunts escaped their mouth guards.
"You call yourselves Warriors," Death spat, backhanding Matthew as he got to his feet again, sending him flying down the corridor, smashing into the ground a couple of times, leaving cracks and even a large crater in the floor by the time he stopped. "You are not worthy of an honourable death."
"Enough talk," Isaac growled, getting to his feet again with the help of his blade. "This fucking headache is just pissing me off." He grabbed the other handle of the blade, and rushed forward to strike the Demon.
But the blade was stopped by a thin-fingered hand grabbed the sharpened edge with relative ease. Isaac's eyes, wide with shock, switched from his blade, which he tried to remove, to the Demon, where he tried to remove it from.
He received a punch to the side of his body as a result, losing his grip on the blade and sending him flying down the corridor. The blade clattered against the smoothed ground, creating dents in the surface.
Death turned to stalk after Isaac, but a sudden irritation to his back caught his attention.
Matthew had stabbed his blade through Death's back, embedding the end in his spine, but found that he couldn't remove it, when he tried pulling back. He glanced up when he heard movement, and was alarmed, and slightly disgusted, when he saw Death's blank eyes and torn mouth slip tear through his head.
His hands and arms slowly twisted around, with his thumbs the only thing that remained in place, and soon, Matthew found one hand wrapped around his neck and the other tearing the blade from his, now, torso.
"Shit!" Matthew choked as he was thrown back, down the other end of the corridor. But when he forced himself onto his elbows, he didn't see any sign of a wound on Death's body.
Not even a scratch.
Death began advancing on Matthew, as Natalie quickly rushed over to help Isaac to his feet. Once he was on his feet, Natalie went to run and help Matt. But she paused, turning her head slightly, looking towards the nearest window.
Movement. A very metallic scent…
A faint click.
"Get down!" She called, quickly dropping to her knees and pressed herself against the wall beneath the window. Isaac quickly followed suite, and Matthew used this chance to attack Death. Driving a double kick right in the chest, sending the Demon staggering back a few steps.
Death quickly recovered and rose to his feet again, but before he could move, several of the windows shattered, several small canisters coming through and landing in the corridor.
"Gas?" Isaac asked.
"Smoke. The chemical compounds don't appear poisonous; your helmets will filter out any toxic chemicals," MUTT's voice came over the comms.
"So glad you decided to speak up, MUTT," Matthew uttered under his breath, as he picked himself up onto one knee.
"I'm informing you that your location is currently surrounded by approximately 57 individuals of the Division 13 soldiers. All appeared armed."
"Any more news? Perhaps.. y'know, something fucking positive?" Isaac asked.
"Tanya and Kyle have been sent to your location. Unfortunately, Kyle has had a run in with Batibat. Whereas you three.. your encounter isn't on record," MUTT informed.
"I said good news, you mechanical fuck," Isaac grunted, shaking his head.
"I'd recommend switching to thermal vision," MUTT's voice added, but getting cut off.
Isaac shook his head slightly, before tapping a few buttons on his Howler, and pressed his hand against the side of his visor. From the outside, his visor seemed to just turn a slight shade of blue, while internally, it was several panels folded in on themselves, giving a thermal image of his surroundings.
Natalie was to his side, whereas Matt was further down the corridor. Nothing came up for Death, just a faint outline to his being.
"Run!" Isaac shouted, moving forward and helping Natalie get to her feet before rushing forward, dodging Death's blind striking, and helped Matt to his feet. With all three of them now up, Isaac lead them through the already smashed windows, shattering what glass remained and took it with them as they rolled onto the ground outside Pax High.
But when they looked up, two things immediately became apparent. One, they found themselves almost blinded by the sheer brightness of outside, combined with the thermal vision.
Second, upon resorting their visors to normal, found several armoured vehicles and armed soldiers aimed at them.
"Shit."
"Do not move!" One of the armed soldiers shouted, the sound of multiple weapons being primed echoing around this face of the school building.
"I knew Americans used schools as shooting ranges occasionally, but this is a bit much," Isaac commented under his breath, slowly raising to his feet, never letting his eyes leave the nearest group of soldiers in front of them. Natalie and Matthew slowly followed suite, leaving their blades where they landed.
"Not now, Isaac," Natalie snapped at the Red-clad Warrior, as a small number of the soldiers broke rank and moved towards them. The three of them had at least two rifles aimed at them from the approaching soldiers.
But just as they were able to start raising their hands, two blurs of yellow and black came charging through the groups of soldiers, sending several of the 4x4s they arrived in flipping over, glass smashing and metal denting. The soldiers who had been approaching the three had turned to look at the sudden calamity, only for each and every one of them to receive a sudden punch to the gut area, the impact of which sent them flying through any remaining windows allow the corridor.
"Looks like you guys were having a fun time," Tanya commented, quickly coming to a stop beside Isaac, while Kyle came to a stop beside Matthew. Tanya glanced at Isaac, before handing him his blade. Isaac took the blade with a slight nod, before they faced the soldiers surrounding them.
"We should get going," Kyle commented, glancing around at the forces surrounding them.
"You're not going anywhere, Warriors!"
Tanya, Kyle and Matthew turned to look back at the sudden voice, while Isaac and Natalie kept facing the soldiers. But when they saw the soldiers reaching, aiming their rifles higher and several shouts and calls to the other units caught their attention.
"Shit," Isaac said when he saw Death, towering over the Warriors, as he slowly climbed out of the window, taking a large chunk of the bricks beneath the empty window frame with him.
"Open fire!" One of the commanders shouted, and immediately, multiple safety switches were flicked off, and bullets began tearing through the air. Isaac grabbed Tanya's shoulder and pulled the pair of them to the ground, with the others quickly ducking to avoid the bombardment of bullets.
"You do remember we're bullet proof, don't you?" Tanya asked Isaac, a smirk under her helmet plain as day to Isaac.
"Uh.. yeah," Isaac said after a few seconds, slowly pulling his hands from where they'd grabbed her shoulders, and returned them to grabbing the blade. Tanya merely chuckled at Isaac's flustered moment, nudging her shoulder against his briefly.
"Let's get out this shitstorm, then I'll 'thank' you," Tanya replied in a hushed whisper, before she grabbed her own blade and glanced to the others. Then looking up, seeing Death was getting pushed back slightly from the numerous bullets striking him, with a lot of them merely passing through his body without any sort of evidence of injury.
"C'mon!" Isaac shouted to the others, and the other four quickly followed; the five vanishing in various-coloured blurs of colour, vanishing from sight of the soldiers. Leaving them with Death, who was trying to backhand the bullets as they came in, or tried reaching for the soldiers.
Eventually, he gave up and, with a wispy snarl, snapped his fingers and disappeared in a column of black smoke.
"Sir, targets have gone," One of the officers called out, after the bullets had finally stopped spraying.
"I'll inform command. Do a quick sweep, make sure we didn't have causalities. You find anyone injured, you know what to do," The commander of the group informed, before several smaller units broke off from the ranks and proceeded to enter the school.
Meanwhile, the commanding officer approached the back of one of the trucks, where several large, military-grade protected screens and computers were kept. Opening one such case up, the commander tapped in a few keys and stepped back. The screen slowly flickered to life, and on the opposite end of the comms, Clint's face was visible.
"Commander Bret, do you have information on the Rangers?" Clint asked, his voice coming out somewhat static-y due to the weak connection.
"Sir, we.. had them, but it appears they were already in contact with one of the Unidentified Monsters," Bret responded, standing at attention.
Clint's face twitched slightly at the disappointing news, visibly grinding his teeth together momentarily. "Never mind. You've done your job. Now it's time for the Asset to do his."
"'Asset'?" Bret asked, raising an eyebrow.
But the comms were cut short, reducing the screen to mere static.
Clint stepped away from the computer screen he'd just been in contact with one of the Commanders, turned around and walked through the empty corridor connecting the comms room and the large hanger of the facility. The door opened smoothly as he approached, and closed swiftly after he walked through.
"So, we ready to go?" Clint asked, approaching several scientists in lab coats, googles and gloves on, working on something.
"Just need to make some final calibrations and we should be good to go," A sudden, feminine voice said. Clint was caught off guard momentarily, backtracking to look at the scientist that had spoken.
His eyes widened slightly, and he said, "Ms. Fairweather…"
Though her hair might be slight shorter, and the thick colour may have faded slightly, this, combined with her still-stunning eyes, was unmistakeably Angela Fairweather. Adjusting her oval-shaped glasses slightly, she turned and said, "It's Mrs. Rawlings now."
"I was unaware that E was able to bring you here," Clint commented, as Angela stepped away from her work for the moment, as another scientist took over, tapping into a small computer.
"E knew of my expertise in the field he wanted help with.. though I'm not used to this," Angela replied, turning back to look at what they were working on.
"Well, this is far different to the technology you were used to back on Lightspeed," Clint said, arms folded behind his back.
"Sir, set and ready to go," One of the other scientists said, stepping to approach Clint and Rawlings. Clint nodded slowly, saying, "Find the Rangers' power source, lock onto it and use the teleportation tech."
"But, sir, it hasn't been tested on living tissue yet…"
"It'll work," Clint pressed, glancing at Angela briefly.
Angela glanced back, switching between Clint and the group of scientists, looking at her expectantly, before she exhaled through her nose slowly. "Please, proceed," She asked.
Though the other scientists cast glances of doubt between themselves, they slowly moved around with their tablets, tapping a few times. One moved to a large, messy computer, with cables tangling all around the back, tapping a few keys, and slowly resting his hand on a large lever.
"Subject's status?" He asked.
"Level," Another called.
"Vitals are good," A third called, getting up from kneeling beside an armoured figure, and stepping away.
Slowly, two red eyes, embedded within a layered, lupine-shaped helmet, started to light up, and deep, metallic exhales came from the stylized muzzle mouth guard, vents opening up slightly with every breath. An additional two lights activated over the chest, as the plates raised and lowered slightly, forming a more comfortable cover across the body.
"Proceeding with teleportation."
"Proceeding," The scientist repeated, slowly gripping the lever and began pushing forward gently, machinery beginning to whine as energy built up, revealing bright blue lights columns of energy building up behind him. This energy slowly fed up the side of the warehouse, and along the ceiling until it reached a strange transmitter, the end of which was slowly building up with energy.
"Wasn't this prototype technology for Lightspeed?" Clint asked, having to raise his voice in order to be heard over the sound of building energy.
"It never made it into the physical stage," Angela replied, raising her voice as well as more energy built up, having to raise her hand to keep her sight good as the light started to intensify.
"Activating teleporter," the scientist called, pulling the lever down fully, locking it into place and tapping a few commands into the computer, placing a pair of black-lensed, protective glasses as the energy build up reached a peak. A great arc of energy struck down from the transmitter, crackling the air around it as it split just above the armoured figure, into five beams and each striking the metal mesh around the figure. The arcs of energy slowly began to spread, encasing the still figure, and a sudden flash of blinding white light lashed out when the arcs formed a complete cylinder around him.
Their lab coats getting blown back by the sudden blast of energy, a few even stumbling back at the unexpected force, while Clint quickly moved to support Angela, but she merely side stepped and kept her footing.
"Is it.. supposed to be that powerful?" Clint asked, both to Angela and the second scientist behind the protective glass, as the power started whining down.
"Energy readings went above the safe levels momentarily, but we were unable to correct them before the teleporter fully initiated," The scientist informed, tapping a few keys rapidly, several options flashing across his screen. "Trying to pinpoint his location."
"That.. could have gone a lot better," Matthew groaned as he leaned against the alley wall. The five had come to a stop in the middle of the city, though towards the quieter side, in a dimly-lit alley. Tanya had moved over to stand beside Isaac, both leaning against the wall, arms crossed, while Kyle pacing up and down the length of their section of the alley, and Natalie was on her Howler, tapping a few buttons and talking to MUTT and Savage.
"You got anything on that Creepy Pasta guy?" Natalie asked, turning to face the others and tapped a few buttons. The others all turned when their visors allowed them to see a projected image of Savage and MUTT, as if they were standing in the alley with them, albeit with a faint blue tint.
"He is of no known records that I have encountered," Savage responded, as MUTT worked beside him, making tapping motions, on an out of sight keyboard. "As of yet, MUTT hasn't found anything on your human records throughout the ages."
"At least nothing that would make sense," MUTT added.
"How do you mean?" Tanya asked.
"Some records are related to your species' encounter with what they call 'Devil'."
"Don't go all fucking Bible-basher on us," Isaac groaned, holding the bridge of his helmet in his hand.
"Let him talk, dip shit," Tanya interrupted quietly, nudging his ribs with an elbow.
"There have been a few encounters throughout your recent Earth history-within the last 6,000 years-describing the creature 'Death' you encountered."
MUTT made another tapping gesture, and a third image projected itself between the five teens, giving them a slightly shorter image of the Demon they had encountered, and left, at the school. The finer details were a bit fuzzy, but the important stuff was there. Exposed ribs, red, dried blood accenting his body, and slit cheeks.
"Maybe we'll learn more about him next time you encounter him," Savage added, turning to face the Warriors as Death's hologram faded.
"Maybe he'll be a bitch when we face him in the 'Zords. A lot of them have," Matthew said, getting up from the wall and pacing around the opposite side of the holograms to Kyle.
"Apart from Fear."
"Shut it, Nat," Matthew grumbled under his breath.
"I hate to break from the bonding session," MUTT interrupted, becoming the main focus of the projection briefly.
"When the hell do you teach him sarcasm?" Isaac asked Savage.
"But it appears that there is a great energy source approaching your location; I will try and find out what it is exactly. In the meantime, I'll give you the estimated location," MUTT informed, before the projection was cut off and their visors returned to normal.
"C'mon, let's see what this things all about," Kyle said, as the others kicked off from the wall.
"Come on then," Isaac called, quickly jogging out of the alley's nearest exit, the others quickly running after him, the five moving just slow enough to not appear like complete blurs of their colours, but still more than fast enough to get to where they needed to go within a minute.
It took them barely a minute to reach the marked location, just outside the main, big city area, but still very much within the city's borders. Tall buildings were just in sight, with much smaller, office-based building surrounding them. The five stopped in a large, empty space between buildings, void of people at the moment.
"Now, where is this thing MUTT was worried about?" Matthew asked, hands resting on his hips as he looked around, bending over slightly to catch his breath.
Natalie glanced around at the tall buildings in the distance, before her eyes glanced to the sky, and there, something caught her eye.
"Guys.. you might want to look up."
The others looked towards the sky, and all improved their stance when they saw what appeared to be a swirling portal, electricity crackling all around it.
"I take it that's it," Matthew commented, answering himself as the crackling grew in intensity.
They all suddenly moved back when the crackling suddenly arched forward, moving towards the ground with unexpected force. When they saw where he was going to strike-right where they were standing-five blurs quickly replaced them as they rushed off.
Barely dodging the strike as it hit the ground, cracking the concrete and sending large chunks flying, as if the heavy material was mere Styrofoam.
"Jesus…" Natalie muttered, coming to a stop with a small skid against the ground, the others coming to a stop just after Natalie, small slid marks from where the bottom of their boots etched onto the ground.
"D'you think that's it?"
"Shove it up your ass, Isaac."
"Guys…" Kyle called, gesturing to where the newly formed impact point in the concrete. When they saw what Kyle must have been talking about, and slowly drew their Wolf Blades.
Kneeling in the shallow crater, one fist embedded in the ground and the other resting on his knee, was a humanoid figure wearing plated armour, fitting the figure well enough to not take from the movement of the person behind the metal.
Slowly rising, the plated metal slowly folding and shifting slightly with the movements, more of the person was revealed. The most prominent thing that could be taken from the figure was the helmet, resembling a canine head, a short muzzle sticking out from the mouth guard, and shorted ears sticking out from just behind the back.
The forearms were surrounded by thick armour, which was soon revealed to be weaponry storage; with a simple flick of the wrist, a pair of short blades gutted out over the back of the hand. The pair of deep, glowing red eyes focused solely on the Warriors.
"You've been quiet the pain in our side, Rangers," The new figure said, his voice mechanically altered, masking his identity. "I believe it time you learn your place in this world."
"MUTT.. got anything for us?" Isaac asked, raising his Howler briefly to speak with their comms. The others quickly shifted into better stances, holding their Wolf Blades defensively.
A short silence followed, before Savage's voice suddenly came over the comms.
"Warriors, that power source coming from this being.. it's the Silver Crystal. The humans have somehow harnessed the Silver Howler!"
"Doesn't matter who this fucker is or what he's got. We'll fuck him up," Matthew said, before he twisted the blade around slightly, into a more offensive hold.
"Yeah. So let's stop talking and kick the shit out of him," Kyle agreed, copying Matthew's stance, before the two suddenly rushed forward. Momentarily becoming blurs as they rushed off.
"Matt, Kyle, no!" Isaac shouted, stepping forward once to try to stop them, but wasn't quick enough. They had crossed the distance between the five of them and this new Silver guy, their blades raised as they shouted.
But they never got a chance to strike.
The new Warrior had stepped out from the crater he had created, the armour moving with the steps, almost like it was alive against the wearer. But as it calmly approached the rushing Matt and Kyle, and Matt's blade came slicing downward, the figure simply raised its hand and caught the blade. Sparks flew from the contact, but Matt's eyes widened when it didn't create any sort of damage.
While he was distracted, he was struck in the chest with a swift kick, with enough force to send Matt flying back, flailing through the air before he came crashing down onto the ground. With the blade still in hand, the Silver Ranger flipped the blade around, grabbing the upper handle and spun around, blocking an attack from Kyle.
The two exchanged a few strikes at each other, Kyle not managing to get any hits on the Silver Ranger, but he was struck multiple times by the quick movements and reactions of the opponent, the final blow to knock him back was a forceful roundhouse kick to the visor. The momentum caused him to go flying backwards, spinning before crashing down on the ground. Large chunks of the visor was cracked, and looked as though they were about to fall out entirely.
The Silver Warrior slowly turned to face the remaining three Warriors, tossing the large blade aside, leaving it clattering on the ground just out of Kyle's reach. "I was expecting more, but I'll take an easy defeat," He said, the small vents on the side of the muzzle extension opening and closing with small hisses of air.
"Like fuck is that going to happen!" Tanya snapped, before suddenly rushing forward, blade out and went on the attack.
"Why doesn't anyone listen to what I fucking say?" Isaac groaned, shoulders sagging slightly before glancing at Natalie. She already had her Wolf Blade out, drumming her fingers against the metal briefly, glancing at the red-suited Warrior. Sighing again, Isaac drew his blade and said, "Fuck it."
With that, he flicked the blade around to hold it on both hands and rushed after Tanya with Natalie quickly following, the three attacking the Silver Ranger, hoping at least one of them strike landed a blow.
But for the first few minutes, they weren't having much luck. Natalie received a kick to her abdomen, forcing the wind from her and making her drop to one knee. She almost received a kick to the side of her helmet, if Tanya hadn't shoulder barged the Silver Ranger aside. His kick struck open air, and Natalie quickly moved off slightly, leaving Isaac and Tanya to fight.
Recovering from the unexpected shoulder barge, the Silver Ranger slowly turned to face the Yellow and Red Warrior, both of whom took offensive fighting stances, fingers flexing around the handles. He slowly straightened his stance, and eventually brought his forearms across his chest, bringing them down to his sides. The momentum carried duel blades out from the mounts over his wrists, the blades glowing a faint blue energy, giving off a low humming noise.
"You should have left this country when you first met resistance," The Silver Ranger growled, the vents once again opening and sealing as he spoke, the eye ports glowing a dark red. Shifting into an attack stance, one arm crossed his chest while the other was held at his side.
"And that's your problem, how?" Isaac asked, holding the blade at a slightly different angle, before rushing forward, Tanya following suite, the two vanishing into blurs of red and yellow. The Silver Ranger quickly turned on the spot, and in an instant, he rushed off, vanishing into a blur of silver, keeping pace with the Warriors as they ran at him.
Red, Silver and Yellow blurs ran through the centre space of the area, barely dodging several buildings as they went full circle, running laps of the area repeatedly. One trying to catch the other, the other trying to keep pace with the Warriors.
The red blur was the first to falter, the Silver Ranger had quickly turned and started running back in the opposite direction, and clotheslined Isaac. The speed they were going meant Isaac was sent flying into the side of the nearest building, breaking clean through the bricks and glass, sending shards and chunks falling upon his entry. The only sign of him being there was the mound of rubble and glass, with a hand hanging limply out of a gap.
With Tanya the only Warrior left standing, the two racing blurs of Yellow and Silver ground to a stop in the middle of the area, leaving trails of dust and unturned rubble from sharp turns in their wake.
The two exchanged, blocked and dodged blows from the other; blades barely grazing the visors and helmets, leaving just the faintest scratches, before they ended up returning the attack. The Silver Ranger stepped back when Tanya tried sending a kick at him, and he quickly retaliated with a punch of his energy blades.
Luckily, Tanya managed to get his blade caught with her Wolf Blade; but with a quick twist of the wrist, the Ranger got her to lose her grip on the blade, and sent it flying to the ground. Now unarmed, Tanya quickly ducked and backed up as the Silver Ranger threw fists and energy blades at her.
When she finally managed to throw a punch back at him, he caught the fist as it came flying at him, gripping her wrist firmly. Using the grip on her wrist, he drove a knee into her stomach, and twisted her around so he had her pinned, her arm twisted sharply behind her back, forcing her to one knee.
Teeth grit beneath her helmet, Tanya tried to get out of the hold, but found any movement from her resulted in her wrist and arm bending in an even more uncomfortable angle. "Screw you asshole," She snarled, trying to kick at his ankles.
"I'd advise you to stop doing that," The Silver Ranger warned, but one of her kicks caught his knee and he stumbled momentarily. He retaliated by driving his knee into her elbow, a sickening crack escaping the limb, and a muffled shout coming from Tanya. "I warned you!"
Between her previous shout, Silver's warning and the sudden, blinding pain coming from her now unfeeling arm, Tanya missed the comm-link blip the first time round. She only realized when she suddenly heard MUTT.
"Tanya, listen to me. We've identified a weak spot on the Silver Warriors' suit; at the back, where the neck meets the back, there's a power dampener. Strike that, and it should short-circuit the Warriors' armour."
Her teeth still grinding against each other, to help dull the sudden pain, Tanya glanced to the side, seeing the Silver Ranger attempting to keep her stationary.
'We'll see how long that last,' She thought bitterly. Slowly, she managed to force one of her boots flat against the ground, giving her a bit more traction than previously.
With a sudden burst of speed and strength, with the Silver Ranger unable to counter, Tanya flew up and flipped over his head, managing to wrench her arm free and brought it close to her person, clenching the other hand into a fist.
Tanya quickly saw what MUTT had talked about, seeing through the blaring pain of her arm. A small, hand-sized, crystal-like growth coming out from the back of the plated armour. As she continued the arc over the Silver Ranger, she brought her fist slamming down on the crystal power dampener, using so much force she thought she'd broken her other hand momentarily.
The moment her fist slammed down on the crystalline dampener, several arcs of energy and electrically surrounded the body of the Silver Ranger, his altered shouts of pain and surprise echoing out from the voice modular, the force sending Tanya flying onto her back. He dropped to his knees, hands flying to reach behind his back to the source of the energy arcs, desperately clawing at the armour, blades drawn back into the guards.
Slowly, further energy started to encircle the Silver Ranger, different to the arcs coming from the dampener. Encasing him fully, it wasn't long before a flash of blue light exploded, and he was gone.
All that remained of his presence was the destruction of the area and the battered Warriors scattered around the place. While Matthew, Natalie and Kyle were slowly recovering, holding severely injured parts of their body, Tanya slowly rose back to her feet, one hand firmly clutching her other arm, and slowly limped towards the pile of bricks Isaac was buried under.
"MUTT.. get the medical supplies ready…" Tanya muttered into her Howler as she knelt down beside the bricks, pushing a few off and easing Isaac out of the rubble. Eventually falling back against the still-standing wall, she brought Isaac's head up to rest on her lap.
"Complete system overload! Vitals are through the roof!" One scientist shouted out, furiously tapping at a keyboard.
"Pull him back!" Angela called, quickly running around to the larger computer, and tapping the keyboards, looking across at the multiple screens, showing her several bits of information. Right now, a lot of the screen was filled with flashing warnings, and spiked vital signs.
The scientist beside Fairweather quickly grasped the lever that had sent the Asset out, and slowly began pulling it back to its previous position. Slowly, the energy in the projector above started to build up again, and a blue orb of energy started to reform in the centre of the warehouse. Clint standing to one side, hands squeezing into fists briefly as energy crackled the air around them.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the orb of energy split and started retreating to the projector above. This revealed the kneeling Silver Ranger, electricity still crackling around his body and shouts of modulated pain escaping the muzzle point.
"Shut the suit down!" Clint ordered, quickly trying to move in to the now collapsed, writhing body of the Silver Ranger. One scientist slammed an open hand on a big, red button beside the nearest keyboard, the sound of machinery shutting down echoed throughout the warehouse, and the electricity arcing around the Silver suit finally ceased.
The moment the electricity died down, Clint rushed over with Angela, the latter of which had a medical bag with her, as they quickly knelt beside the suit and rolled it onto its back, though Clint quickly withdrew his hands when he found the metal was still smoldering. Luckily, Fairweather had the experience to wear insulated gloves as she worked on the hot and electrical-charged suit.
Tapping a small, hidden button under the helmet's back and quickly leaned back as the panels started folding back. As more folded back, folding upward and collecting over the top of the head, revealing the person wearing the armour.
"E! E, c'mon. Talk to me!" Clint pressed, shaking the unmoving shoulders of E through the Silver armoured suit. A few small cuts were visible across his face and cheeks, but what injures lay underneath were unknown.
"Get those vital scans back up," Fairweather instructed as she pressed strategic places across the suit; ever so slowly, each section of which she pressed started to open up, plates of metal slowly easing from their defensive, locked position and began revealing the wearer.
From what her keen eyes could pick out, Fairweather could see that there weren't any serious injures facing E, just a few electrical burns across his body, but they were neither life threatening nor changing.
"He needs recovery time," Fairweather instructed, as a pair of medics came into the warehouse, stretcher carried between them. By the time they arrived at their side and set the stretcher down, the Silver suit armour had fully opened up, looking as though the skin of a body was forced open, revealing the internal body.
Taking great care under the watchful eye of Clint, the medics hoisted E onto the stretcher, easing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, and carefully raised the stretcher with him on.
"Go with him, I'll see what I can recover from the suit," Fairweather instructed, gesturing for Clint to follow the medics as they carried E away. She could tell he wanted to go, the way his head followed the stretcher, and slight leg twitch, as if to go after him regardless.
Clint glanced back, nodding once before following the medics through the double doors. Leaving Fairweather and the other scientists in the warehouse. "Pass me one of the data-readers. Let's see what we can recover from the suit's field test," She asked, gesturing for the other scientist to pass her a mess of wires and a single, brick-sized piece of tech.
Once she had one in hand, she carefully leaned into the still-open Silver Ranger suit, and firmly fed the wires into the data ports in the neck section of the suit. Immediately, information and data began to feed into the pad, and Fairweather began methodically going through everything she could get.
"Fuck.. that was a rough one," Kyle groaned, leaning back against the floor, an ice pack firmly pressed against his forehead. He raised it briefly, fingering the large bruise forming across the side of his head, and winced as he placed the ice pack over the sour area again.
"Maybe if you and Matt didn't go balls deep at once, we might have had a better chance," Natalie grunted in response, wiping a bit of blood that'd started trickling from her nose, and tried getting a good look at the pair of black eyes she been so lucky to receive. Unfortunately, her iPhone screen had been smashed during the fight, rendering it useless. "Tyler's gonna be pissed again."
"Try thinking of an excuse this time," Matthew joked, before coughing loudly as he leaned back against the chair, glancing at his hand and grimacing slightly at the small traces of blood splattered across his palm. Cleaning his hand on his partially torn shirt, he glanced up as MUTT re-entered the room, supporting Tanya as she limped beside him.
One arm firmly locked in place with a cast, a bag of Instinct in her other hand around MUTT's shoulders, and the occasion mistake meant she almost dropped to one knee. Each time it caused her to wince at the pain throbbing from her knee.
"The Instinct should numb the pain within ten more minutes," MUTT assured as he helped Tanya sit on one of the free chairs. When she had settled, MUTT turned to the others, handing another ice pack to Kyle and took the almost melted one he had.
"Any word on our new friend?" Matt asked as MUTT came to check the Instinct IV-drip, feeding the pain number into his bloodstream.
"Savage and I are going through the records, analyzing the footage we managed to capture of him," MUTT said, making minor adjustments to the feed of Instinct into Matt's blood.
"What about Isaac?" Tanya asked, her voice much quieter than usual.
"Isaac is recovering. I am unsure how much force this new Warrior is able to deliver, but apparently he has enough to stab through this grade of armour," MUTT said, turning to face Tanya solely after facing the group. "He is currently resting, but I will inform you when he has awoke."
Tanya nodded slightly, wiping a bit of dried blood from a busted lip. "Thanks."
"For the time being, I'd advise you five remain within the Den. From what we've connected, it appears whoever is after you has access to knowledge of where you live. And, evidently, where you attended college."
"Damn government," Matt muttered dryly, resting his head back as MUTT quietly left the large room they had to recover. The door closed behind him with a small hiss, leaving silence to envelope the quiet, injured teenagers.
"They are recovery, albeit slowly," MUTT informed as he walked through to the main Command Room, walking up to Savage. Said wolf had his arms folded behind his back, and was going through several images projected onto the blank wall.
Savage glanced back upon MUTT's entrance, before looking back at the images and small clips MUTT had managed to recover from the Warrior's tech. All showed the same thing, with different perspectives on this mysterious, silver-armoured clad Warrior.
"How could the humans have harnessed the power of the Silver Crystal? They have the potential to destroy entire countries, and yet they were able to wield it within half a moon cycle," Savage said to himself, ears flicking back momentarily.
"You must remember, Savage, the humans have had Rangers for nearly two decades now. Though I must admit, even with this knowledge, their ability to harness the Silver Howler in such a short space of time is.. rather strange."
Savage gently stroked his chin in silence, before asking, "Has there been anyone of note entering the territory recently?"
"How do you mean?" MUTT asked, yet had already started tapping away commands at a keyboard.
"We have gone through the records of everyone that has resided in Pax Valley. So far, none of the known residence have this knowledge. Perhaps it's someone from beyond."
"I believe the saying is, 'out of town', Savage," MUTT corrected, bringing up several camera feeds over the images of the Silver Ranger, and immediately, they began going at such a speed, Savage struggled to keep up with them all.
But MUTT didn't.
"Going through flight records within the last week," MUTT informed, tapping away as his faceless head focused solely on a small gap between the keyboards and screens. After ten minutes of going through it, he paused for the briefest moment.
"Interesting."
"What did you find?" Savage asked.
"There was a flight coming into Pax Valley Airport, on the 26th January at exactly 14:36. However, what catches my interest is the fact that it has removed one seat."
"I.. don't follow."
"They normally list all of the empty seats on each flight, yet with this one, the seat itself has been removed from record. Whoever was in that seat, I believe to be our person of interest."
"Hmm… I take that it's best to leave you to it," Savage mused, side glancing at MUTT. Though he wouldn't admit it, he didn't really fully understand everything MUTT had said.
"I will identify this missing seat," MUTT replied, focused almost entirely on the screens and keyboards. "The teenagers shall be alright for the time being, so you needn't worry about them."
"Good.. good," Savage grunted lowly, nodding once or twice before turning to leave. And he had almost reached the sliding door when MUTT spoke again.
"Tanya's inherited Yei's concern."
Savage paused briefly when MUTT's words sunk in, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them sharply once more. Silently, he walked through the open door, just as quietly as he had been, and the door slid shut, leaving MUTT to do his work.
"They'll be staying away from their homes."
Clint glanced up when he heard E speak all of a sudden. Thankfully, E's condition had stabled out when they got him to the medical wing and hooked him up. He had a couple of IV-drips feeding into his forearm, and a steady heartbeat sounding through the room.
"How do you mean?" Clint asked, leaning forward in his chair slightly.
"They'll have figured out by now that we know all about them. We know where they went in education, and we would have intervened with Mrs. Steele and Mr. Colon if we were quick enough. But, as the events unfolded, they found themselves together. If they know we know where they worked and studied, it is more than likely they know we know where they live."
"So.. where does that us put us?" Clint questioned.
"It means…" E said, slowly reaching across and tearing the drips from his arm, in the process taking his heartbeat monitor pads from pressing against his chest. Immediately, a steady, loud beep sounded out through the room, and Clint was sure it was echoing to the medics. "That I need to get back into that suit."
"Wow, wow. Easy, E," Clint said, quickly getting to his feet, trying to keep E from getting up, but he stopped just as quickly when E glared at him. Grabbing his jacket from the chair on the other side of the bed, doing his shirt up again, thus hiding the rather painful-looking electrical burns across his chest. "That suit damn near killed you."
"We need to find out how those Rangers were able to identify the power dampener. I doubt any of them studied anything remotely close, so they must have a tech helping them. We just need to get information out of them," E said, walking past Clint and pushing the door to his room. Clint quickly rushed to move after E, slipping past the doors as they closed.
Several medics and doctors had been rushing to E's room, but all moved to the side as he came storming through the corridor, Clint a few steps behind him. It wasn't long before he was accompanied by several armed Division 13 soldiers, and neared the same warehouse they had brought him from, literally, twenty minutes ago.
And E himself led the walk back to the warehouse, a deathly glare to his eyes as they approached.
So...yeah. I am still alive.
I cannot be more sorry for the lack of updates to this thing; I just haven't found the motivation up until now. But I promise, there will be more consistent updates for the foreseeable future.
Nf991 signing out.