Episode 18 – Back in Blue, Part 1
The first thing he could feel was pain - a great, throbbing pain from just behind his eyes, like his skull suddenly grown a size too small for his brain. He groaned lowly, pretty sure he felt his hand rub tiredly against his face, or something, he couldn't pick anything out just by touch. He tried opening his eyes, but found two problems; the surprising weight his eyelids suddenly carried, and the sheer brightness that he picked up on before he even attempted to open them.
"He's up."
The voice echoed around his head, almost in sync with the throbbing of his brain, sounding distant, yet he was sure it was much, much closer. And it seemed so familiar… So, so familiar.. he just couldn't place it right now.
A distant echo of something shuffling, and a blurred shape partially blocked the bright light.
"Isaac?"
At his name, it finally clicked.
"Tanya…?" Isaac groaned, eyes trying to open, but all he managed was a brief peak and his eyes screwing shut not a second after. He raised a hand to better block the light, though when he tried picking himself up from what he assumed was lying down, he could barely pick himself up. He probably could have, if another hand didn't gently take his forearm and ease him down again, now aware of the mild pain flooding from his shoulder.
"Easy there…" The voice soothed, now much closer and clearer, as she shifted around Isaac's resting form and gently ran the back of her fingers down the side of his neck; in hopes of distracting him for any pain. "You went through shit, so you're going to be a bit tender."
Despite another groan of pain escaping, a small shudder ran across Isaac's skin, centering on the faint trail of fingers down his neck. "Tender, eh?" He muttered, a small smile tugging the corner of his scarred lips, eyes still closed. "Can definitely see that. Just surprised you haven't tried taking advantage of that." Even without actually looking, he could tell, with the small scoff of disbelief that Tanya was smiling at his words.
'At least he hasn't lost his sense of humor,' She thought, before reminded of the current situation they were presented with, but this wasn't the time right now. He had just woken up, and he needed to keep from falling into a darker path. "Come on now... I would never do something like that," She said, a tone lower than normal, as her hand slowly slid up his neck and curled a finger through his shorter hair. She leaned in closer, her breath barely grazing his skin.
"At least when you're unconscious; conscious, though.. that's a different matter entirely," She all but whispered, pressing a short, but sweet, kiss to Isaac's forehead. Her hand trailing over and down Isaac's head and hair, lightly massaging his throbbing scalp. And judging by the way Isaac's smirk spread across his face, it was working great. And she probably would have progressed further, if she hadn't picked up some very distinctive footsteps approaching, accompanied by the light patter of claws…
She pulled herself back into her seat as the door slid open, Savage and MUTT entering, the former of which was back in the more comfortable trench coat and loose trousers. MUTT moved in on Isaac's other side, where all the wires and readings Isaac was giving off were, and tapped a few buttons. "I would assume you want to know the current situation?" Savage asked, arms folded behind his back as MUTT, with Tanya's help, eased Isaac up into a sitting position, groans and grit teeth accompanying every bit of movement.
"I'd appreciate it," Isaac grunted, finally managing to get one eye open while the other remained firmly squeezed shut. "How long was I out?"
"Approximately three days," MUTT answered, removing the bandages around his shoulder - Isaac only now realizing that he wasn't wearing anything over his entire torso - and began examining how well the bullet wound had healed up. And judging by how the skin was patched together, it must have been pretty ugly. "You needed time to recover, both physically and mentally."
"Matt.. where's Matt?" Isaac suddenly asked, eyes suddenly widening when that lingering thought abruptly came front and center. He tried getting up from the bed and tore a few of the cables taking his readings, but MUTT reacted quickly and kept him on the bed. Though the force, however gentle, sent another, fresh wave of pain rattling through him.
"Matt is dead," MUTT said bluntly, earning alarmed looks from both Savage and Tanya, and a frozen look from Isaac. "He has been dead for around 60 hours, and has been buried just beyond the Den."
"There's better ways to tell him that MUTT!" Tanya exclaimed, moving forward and shoving MUTT back, glaring at the robot. "You could have softened it a little."
"Softening wouldn't do him any favours in the long term; if anything, it would cause much more damage," MUTT countered, easily moving Tanya back as he returned to assessing the process of Isaac's healing.
Isaac, meanwhile, still had that blank expression on his face. Like he didn't even know what to feel right now - pain, sorrow, shock - all of it was coming at once, yet nothing was coming through entirely. All that came through was the occasion blink and slightly raised breathing rate, the occasional clench of his fists. Whether it was from MUTT's cold, blunt fingers pressing against his skin or the emotional storm going on behind the eyes, no one could tell. "W... Where are the other two?" he finally asked, rising his gaze to look at Tanya, then to Savage. "Kyle? And Nat?"
The teen and Wolf exchanged a look with one another, before Tanya silently prompted Savage to finally speak. With a sigh, Savage unfolded his arms from his chest and folded them at the base of his back, taking a step closer. "After Matt's.. untimely end, I had MUTT begin the search for another end of Retu's bloodline. It took some time, but another branch was narrowed down and a suitable host was located."
"Seriously? Stop calling him 'host.' He's a fucking human being, for God's sake," Tanya snapped.
"Kyle and Natalie," Savage continued, sparing a brief glare at Tanya, "Have been sent to.. collect the replacement for the Beta position of the Pack. Thankfully, the location wasn't too far from Pax Valley. One of the human.. what are they called?"
"Humanitarian Camps, temporary housing for the unlucky fuckers who happen to live in this shit city," Tanya replied, shifting her reply from Savage to Isaac as it progressed. "Should have figured that, really, being someone of Pax Valley origin. It's just going to be a pain in the ass to get him up to speed with everything that's going on."
"Indeed it will," Savage agreed, turning back from looking to Tanya when it became apparent that Isaac had yet to say anything on the matter. "Isaac?"
The teens head raised slightly when he was addressed, with a small "Hmm?" He looked between the two, before he inhaled slowly and finally asked, "W... Who's the un.. unlucky guy?" But Tanya could tell something wasn't right. His tone lacked that special.. energy he usually carried that made him, him. She closed her eyes slightly, giving a small shake of her head. He really wasn't right.
"We'll worry about that when Nat and Kyle bring him back. Right now, you're in no condition to be worrying about that," Tanya put in, finally managing to push MUTT back with a glare. "Seriously, you've literally just woken up from a) being shot, and b) going through serious shit."
"We shall leave you be," Savage offered as MUTT finished the assessment, with a brief nod spared to Tanya, the two left the teenagers to themselves. Tanya waited until the door had fully closed behind the pair before she sat down beside Isaac's bed. MUTT had managed to get him to lie down on the bed, but Isaac had sat up not long after the Wolf and Robot had left. And he still had that expression that Tanya found near-impossible to read, something Tanya had to fix.
"Hey…" She started, moving across to sit on the bed's edge, gently taking Isaac's hand in her own and ran her thumb across the back of his. "You need to stop thinking that this is in anyway your fault. We were all fucked as soon as we found out those bullets could get through this armor. You and Kyle got lucky, that's all, it could have been…" She slowly trailed off, realizing how bad this could go and stopped before it could get any worse. "Really wish Nat was here, she'd know what to say. She gave a pretty good speech to Savage earlier, which I really need to catch you up with. Seriously, he's been holding out on us."
She paused again, waiting for something to happen, anything across Isaac's face. But nothing changed. His eyes seemed unfocused, not looking at anything in particular. Tanya went to try and raise his hand, but found the moment she let go, it instinctively moved down to rest on his lap. It pained her to see this, but she knew that this wasn't something that you could recover just like that. She knew that personally…
A shake of her head soon pushed those darker thoughts to the back of her mind, now wasn't the time for those. "Need anything?" She asked softly, rising to her feet and glancing back at Isaac. Though she had a sliver of hope he'd give her a response, she fully expected the result she got - utter silence. Her eyes closed and she slowly shook her head, leaving Isaac in the medical room.
"You took your time," Batibat sneered as Death entered the Throne Room via a portal, the very same way he had left a few days prior. The she-Demon had been busy at work during her fellow Hands' absence, keeping eyes present throughout the Human world, ready to update her and her Master on anything significant. Since the death of the Blue Beta Warrior, the Master had been rather.. keen, for lack of a better word, on anything going on in the Human Realm.
Ignoring the snide comment, the cloaked figure that was Death brushed past Batibat, the she-Demon taking note of something clutched behind his back, tightly held and mostly hidden from view. Curious, she followed, the pair coming to a stop before the raised throne of their hooded, concealed Master. While she remained standing, Death dropped to one knee and brought his free hand across his thigh. "Master," He began, bringing the other hand forward and held the item in open palms. "The strange creature from beyond the Stars has been.. destroyed."
Here, Batibat got a good look on the item of secrecy. Some kind of metal, that much was clear. But the key thing to notice was the fact that it looked so.. polished, aside from the jagged edges going around it, the metal looked brand new. Not even the floating particles seemed to land on it, if anything - and she had to focus to really notice - they seemed to avoid landing on this strange metal. She gave a quick shake of her head, bringing her head from the examination. And in that time, she noted how the metal rose from Death's hand, rotating, every angle explored as it floated towards Horror's open palm.
Coming to a rest in his flat, skeletal hand, Horror's hood turned down and to the side, examining the metal fragment, moving it from his hand, floating in the air in front of his concealed face, the burning red glow under the hood moving across the metal's surface. "It is not of this planet.. but it could prove useful. Store it, for later use," He instructed, flicking the metal away, landing in Batibat's now open palms.
"There is.. something else, Master," Death continued, his gaze returning to the ground as Batibat was about to move off, hanging around momentarily, wondering what Death had else to say.
"He was defeated by…" He paused, as if collecting the right words. "By an Ancient Warrior."
A silence, filled with dread this time around, overtook the Throne Room. Batibat adjusted the hold on her metal after she almost dropped it in a spike of shock, yet her face kept her emotions well hidden, not a muscle twitched out of place. Death kept his head down, his eyes falling close as he prepared to endure the wrath of the Master.
"You are wrong."
Both Hands turned to look up at the Master's words, and this time, Batibat couldn't help but the faintest trace of surprise dance across her face, Death's stature shifted slightly, moving with the rise of his head. "Master?" He questioned, slowly rising to his feet, and was slowly joined by Batibat.
Horror rose to his feet slowly, robes going slack against what body lay beneath as his arms folded behind his back. "The Warriors are dead, I killed them myself. Whoever this.. false prodigy is, they must be the one training this new generation. He will need to be eliminated, that much of clear."
"Please Master, allow me that honor, to prove my uttermost loyalty," Death insisted, bowing forward a little as he spoke. Yet as he pulled himself back up, he spared a glare when Batibat scoffed.
"You? You could barely face the Warriors themselves during your last encounter with them; at least I have proven to be effective against them," Batibat countered.
"Neither of you will be given the task."
The squabbling stopped immediately and both Demons turned up to their Master as he descended the last step from his throne, and passed through the gap that quickly formed between the pair. As Horror passed them, the sudden chill ran up both their spines and if fresh blood ran through their veins it would have surely gone cold.
"I will deal with this faux Warrior, but only when the time is right. Right now, there is another, more pressing matter that requires my attention," The Master ordered, looking over his shoulder as he spoke. "It would be very wise for you to adhere to my orders." Pausing enough to allow his threat to linger, he moved off silently, disappearing through the entrance and into an out of sight cavern. Only then, did the pair of Demon Hands allow themselves to relax, albeit ever so slightly.
"Don't you dare put me down like that again," Death spat at Batibat as she turned to leave for the second time. "You may be his more trusted Hand, but that doesn't make you untouchable."
Batibat, once again, paused and turned around, but this time, a mocking sneer dominated her features. She didn't even make any attempts to hide it, she wanted Death to easily pick it up. "Don't you try and think yourself superior, Death, you may have a grasp of iron around the Humans' culture, but here, you are nothing. You cannot kill Demons, no matter how much you desire it," She stated, giving a small flick of her hair as she turned back again. And on her third attempt, she finally managed to leave the Throne Room, leaving Death by himself.
"We shall see," Death whispered harshly, the ominous green glow radiating in place of his narrowed eyes.
"Hurry up, will you!"
"Jesus, you try - *huff* - dragging a body! Fuck, did this guy like McDonalds,"
Kyle huffed and heaved as he dragged a guard through the flaps of a large tent, the black armour padding standing out against the dark green of the tent as it vanished inside in small, effort-filled sections. Fully inside, Kyle grabbed the Kevlar armour and, with a bit of effort, slumped the guard against the main support, right beside the other guards, head slumped down.
He walked across the tent, joining the other figure in their search, pulling his mouth balaclava down around his neck, and tore open the nearest filing cabinet. Flicking through a few papers, he asked, "Anything yet?"
"Nothing yet," Natalie replied shortly, wearing similar attire to Kyle, though her half-ski mask was black, she wore a dark brown jacket over a black hoodie. Finger-less gloves flicked through dividers and files, before she quickly snapped up one specific sheet of paper. "Bingo! Prescot, located in Section Echo. C'mon!"
Quickly, hoods were pulled up and balaclavas were pulled over mouths and noses, and the pair quickly exited the tent and headed down one path; heads down, trying to keep from drawing attention.
And judging by how many of the younger people in the camp were dressed and handing the situation, they looked as though they'd be fine.
"This way," Natalie whispered, but ended up roughly dragging Kyle behind a tent when she spotted a pair of police officers patrolling along the same path they had just been taking. The two quickly began walking again, backs to the officers and they weren't given a second glance as they passed the crossed paths. Kyle smoothed out his jacket as they walked through the main centre of the camp, multiple people were hanging around. Some by themselves, some in small groups, with small 'gangs' of kids, ranging from younger to teenagers. And it definitely wasn't cold enough for that to be their breath…
"And all these are people who used to live in Pax?" Kyle questioned lowly, pulling his hoodie closer around his head as they passed by one such group of people.
"Apparently so," Natalie muttered, glancing around when she was sure they weren't being looked at, though returned her eyes front and centre when she felt even a single pair of eyes on her. Thankfully, they didn't draw as much attention as they thought they would, a lot of the 'hard' teens dressed like they were. Though that didn't mean they were out of the woods yet. "Let's just find this guy and get out quickly. Whether it'll go as smoothly as that is another question entirely,"
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Words to live by," Kyle commented dryly, shaking his head slightly as they passed through several tents, some flaps sealed close, others opened to reveal the inhabitants. Once they might have had their own grand houses, living the life of luxury. Kyle almost felt pity for them, reducing to having to live like this, like something you would see documentaries on after a natural disaster.
'We really fucked things up for everyone,' He thought, seeing everything first hand, everything that had been their fault, was a very sobering experience. He shook his head, attempting to banish those thoughts to back of his mind, just as Natalie gestured for them to go down yet another turn, straight down the middle of a row of tents. They walked a short distance down before they stopped once again.
"This is it," Natalie said, her voice significantly lower as she glanced along the row they had stopped at, one way proved empty, while the other saw the end of a pair of civilians just disappearing from view. She went to move into the tent, but was stopped when Kyle snagged her by her jacket.
As she recovered from choking, Kyle held a finger to his covered lips, before gesturing for her to look around. Cocking an eyebrow, she decided to amuse him and carefully leaned around the corner. And she quickly pulled herself back as the flaps were pushed open, through which, an older, dark-skinned man exited. Drawing his old jacket closer around him, he walked off in the opposite direction of the spying pair. Natalie turned to glance at Kyle, and found him listening, head tilted to the side, opposite to the tent, before giving a nod of conformation.
"We're good."
Natalie nodded and, not wasting another second, quickly moved in and threw the flaps open, entering with Kyle. By the time the flaps slumped close, both had already assessed the situation and surroundings.
"Back a bit early, Da-"
The person behind the voice turned around, and immediately fell silent when he saw the two hoodies standing in his tent. His eyes twitched between the two, as his hand carefully moved behind him, grabbing one of the tools he had been using when they entered.
The shorter of the two, the one with the brown jacket, gestured for the other to hang back as they stepped forward, throwing her hood back and brought her balaclava down, revealing Natalie. Though instead of relaxing, Tyler did exactly what Natalie thought he would. He tensed up further, and she heard the faint heart rate increase upon her reveal.
"Tyler?" She asked lowly, hands outstretched at her sides, showing she was unarmed, though she knew that wasn't going to be anywhere near enough proof. "You remember me? N-"
"Yeah, I fixed your phone," Tyler said shortly, and she heard the nervous drumming of his fingers around the monkey wrench. Each tool had their own specific scent, and this one was pretty oily in smell. "Though I'm guessing you're not here for another screen."
"Tyler, please just listen-" Natalie tried saying, but she found herself cut off again.
"Why the fuck should I listen to you? You're the fucking Power Rangers! You're the entire reason why we're in this situation!" Tyler shouted, pulling his makeshift weapon out from behind his back and waving it accusingly at both of the teens before him. He gestured to Kyle, and asked, "Which one's this then? The Brit? Kyle? Fucking Matt?"
"Matt's dead!" Natalie snapped, but quickly calmed herself and tried again. "Matt's dead, OK? He died a couple of days ago. And that's the entire reason why we're here."
At this revelation, Natalie could see the subtle changes that happened all at once, Tyler's angered glare dropped for a second, changing to one of shock, only to be replaced with a quick face of annoyance, and had to quickly adjust his hold on the wrench before he dropped it. "That asshole was going to get himself killed sooner or later, figured he'd be smart enough to stay out of trouble. But what the hell does this have to do with me?"
"Look, I can explain everything to you, everything, but you need to come with us, right now," Natalie pressed, taking a small step closer. But she stopped when Tyler turned the wrench at her, holding it up defensively.
"I'll be damned if I'm going with you," Tyler warned.
"I still say we should knock him out," Kyle threw in, arms folded casually.
"Kyle!" Natalie snapped sternly, hand raised in warning. "Not helping, OK?"
Kyle merely shrugged off the snap, though stepped back and glanced through the tent flaps.
"Look," Natalie began again, turning back around to look at Tyler. "I can completely understand why you would hate us. I mean, we are entirely responsible you're in this wannabe Shanty Town. But trust us; if we allow what's to come to happen, then we're all fucked. As long as we have a chance, no matter how small, of stopping this and preventing it all from happening, then I, for one, am going to take it."
She was getting somewhere, she was sure of it. Tyler had that look of uncertainty that she had seen many time before. Just that little bit more…
The tents flaps suddenly opened, and another voice started booming in the tent.
"I've g-Who the fuck are you two? Get the fuck outta here!" The older man shouted, glaring at the pair of intruders. That was before the girl turned around, and his eyes widened when he recognized her. He took a small step back, trying to fumble around for something to defend himself.
"Uh.. listen," Natalie tried, hands raised to prove she was unarmed. But she never got to finish, as Tyler's dad made to move.
Whether it was towards them or out of the tent, they never found out. Since Kyle moved much, much faster. His body hit the ground before Tyler had a chance to fully blink, and when he caught up, he saw his father's unconscious body at Kyle's feet.
"What. The. Fuck?!"
"Fuck it, we're out of time. C'mon," Kyle insisted, quickly approaching Tyler. He easily stepped the wild swing of the monkey wrench, and as he tried to bring another swing across Kyle's face, the Black Delta teen quickly grabbed the wrench and twisted it free. Moving with such speed, Tyler wasn't aware the wrench wasn't in his hand until it thumped the ground across the tent. He turned back to look at Kyle, glancing across at Natalie, who had her arms folded and shook her head slightly, before being jerked from the spot and, with Kyle grabbing him by the shoulder, was escorted out of the tent.
Natalie went to follow, only pausing to glance down at the still unconscious body of Tyler's father, briefly focusing her hearing, she was glad she could hear the steady beat of his heart and the subtle rise and fall of his chest. With a small shake of her head, she moved around the body and vanished through the tent flaps.
Thankfully, it didn't take long to catch up to the half reluctant pair, one of Tyler's arms pinned and folded behind his back, and Kyle standing close to block their arms from sight. Allowing the illusion that they were just walking close to keep up a few seconds longer. Whenever they heard even the slightest hint to an approaching group, or even an individual, Kyle and Natalie made a quick turn, forcing Tyler with them.
The exit to the camp was in sight.. the plan had been simple - get Tyler, get out and get back to the Den. Now they had Tyler, they just had to get out, un-
"Hey! Freeze!"
"Shit!" Kyle shouted, looking over his shoulder and quickly broke into a run, dragging Tyler along with him.
Natalie threw a look back and quickly ran after the pair. Behind them, several police officers were running after them. All armed with rifles, but something stuck out about the way they.. smelled. She had been met with such a metallic scent, the wave of weaker metal scent almost went past her. But she was glad she caught it, it gave them what they wanted.
"They're using old bullets!" She said as she caught up with Tyler and Kyle, the latter of which trying to slow them down as much as possible. But judging by how many times he was stumbling along, it wasn't proving to be that effective.
"Really?" Kyle asked, before he broke into a slight grin as realization dawned across his face. "Finally! Here, take him!" He finished by, effectively, throwing Tyler across to Natalie as he slid to a stop and turned around.
Easily catching the utterly bewildered Tyler, Natalie turned to look just as Kyle raised his hand and activated his Howler. Tyler turned just in time to be blinded by a column of light encasing Tyler, and by the time it faded and his eyes had readjusted, all he saw was a flash of black. The streak tore down the path they had just been down - he was surprised they had covered such a far distance - and started making quick work of the officers.
"Does he really have to do that?!" Tyler exclaimed, gesturing to the number of bodies that were starting to fall at Kyle's armoured feet.
Natalie too looked at the bodies, but a quick listen and isolation of sounds, she said, "Relax. He's not killing him. Now," She turned back to him, and grabbed his wrist, "I'm not going to lie, this is gonna hurt like fuck."
"Hey! What are y.. Fuck!" Tyler exclaimed, cutting off when Natalie forced something onto his wrist, and in that instant, a stabbing pain dug into his wrist, and he yanked his hand free. He moved away from Natalie, and examined the source of pain on his wrist. A slim design, dark blue and silver in colour, in the shape of a wolf head, and the stand out feature was the glowing blue eye in the centre of it all. He turned it over, just as his wrist was encased by the lock of the Howler. "What the fuck kind of thing is this? Digging into my fucking bone or something?" He exclaimed, trying desperately to wrench the Howler.
"It's making sure you're the right one," Natalie said, and Tyler was suddenly aware of Natalie being replaced with a set of white and black-accented Ranger armour, and when she turned back to face her, he took an involuntary step back now he was faced with the menacing look this White Ranger suit provided. The glare that the eyes on top of the helmet, the jagged edges to the visor that looked like the jaws of the beast, and the black gash-like designs on either side of the torso looked like the wearer had been in the fight, and came out the victor. "Now, just stay here. Don't try running, you won't get far," Natalie warned, pointing a finger accusingly at Tyler before rushing off to help Kyle.
And the very moment she turned into a blur, Tyler quickly looked around and took off, in the opposite direction of the fight going on.
"On for fucks sake," Natalie sighed, as she grabbed the throat of one officer as she came running in, and was swiftly slammed to the ground. "I told him to stay there, and what does he do? He fucks off."
"Well, wouldn't you if you were him?" Kyle asked, twisting around to look at Natalie, but easily delivered a swift punch to his side when an officer thought it wise to try a sneak attack. He glanced around Natalie, and gestured for her to look while he said, "Actually, I think we might be good... MUTT must've got a lock on him…"
Cocking an eyebrow beneath her helmet, Natalie looked around and saw the back-end of a beam of light encasing where she had last seen Tyler running. She let out an airy chuckle, and the two quickly took off, leaving a circle of bodies, making various groans and grunts of pain, in their wake. And in the distance, the faintest streaks of black and white leaving the sights of the Camp.
"This is gonna be a crash course for him, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, he's not going to enjoy it. I just wonder how he's going to react to MUTT. And Savage, if I'm honest."
The last traces of the trails leaving sight, and in that brief moment, silence enveloped the raided camp. It wasn't long before a scramble of angered and panicked voices began to overlap, like a swarm of bees after their hive was disturbed. Some smaller pockets with a larger group swamping the epicentre of the commotion, some gasps, with some calls for help at the discovery of the unconscious man.
Though the majority of the still conscious officers went to the scene of the various calls and shouts, a few quickly ran to the last sighting of the Rangers. But their focus was quickly switched to helping bring their unconscious comrades back up and aware.
Various voices muttered and uttered names to try and get through, though they were quickly overshadowed by the sudden snarl of an engine approaching. Heads rose as it quickly drew closer, and a screech of tires replaced it. D-13 soldiers came flooding out of either side of the 4x4, some armed but one wasn't.
"What happened here?" She asked, applying the other bright blue medical glove as she dropped to one knee beside the closest recovering officer. The other officer trying to bring him back into recovery glanced up at the medic.
"I'll give you three guesses, though I bet you have a pretty good idea what happened," The officer replied gruffly, gently easing his grip on his colleague's shirt to let the medic assess the situation.
"I mean which ones are we dealing with? Red, Yellow?" She further prodded, carefully applying pressure to various points across the torso and sides of the neck. Whether it was assessing the injures or something else, the officer didn't know exactly.
"Black and White," Another officer piped up.
"Hmm…" The medic quietly responded, mostly to herself, as she finished her assessment and carefully maneuvered the body into a recovery position. "Nothing too serious, just going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up," She assured the officer, handing him a small canister of pills. "They seemed to go lightly on you this time."
The officer scoffed, asking, "That supposed to be a compliment or something? They kick the shit out of my guys, and for what? One fucking kid."
"What? They took someone?" The medic questioned, looking over her shoulder at one of the soldiers standing guard beside the 4x4. Not another word was said, the solider quickly nodded and moved behind the truck, vanishing from sight quickly. "Can you give us anything about them? The kidnapped kid?"
"Now, are you quiet done? So we could get-"
A piece of shrapnel that was once a chair collided with the glass; while it did spook the tense guards standing either side of him, E remained in place. The glass remained intact - barely a scratch - as the now splinters came to rest in the cell.
That wasn't the only bit of the cell that was damaged, only the latest break. The other three walls that weren't glass were no longer smooth; severely scratched and clawed, and in some cases even had entire chunks missing from them. And while the glass had been reinforced, even it wasn't indestructible; the faintest signs of scratches and claw marks became visible in the right light. And all the while, the source of all the damages, Licos paced back and forth. Her tail lashed back and forth in clear aggravation, her ears firmly pinned back and a visible snarl tore through her bared fangs. She did throw the occasional insult; not that he was positive they were insults, since E didn't understand a word she was throwing at him.
After a few minutes of this cycle repeating, resulting in the destruction with the only remaining fragments of the chair, E shook his head. "We're not getting anywhere with this," He muttered under his breath, looked over his shoulder to the number of scientists working at the desks at the end of the room. "Reduce her rations," He ordered, and was about to walk off the raised platform when another voice cut through.
"I don't understand why you waste your precious oxygen trying to talk with that beast."
E turned back around, slowly making his way towards the other occupied shell. And when he passed in front of him, he got flashbacks back to Silence of the Lambs.
That stone-faced Demon was just standing there, barely inches from the glass, arms folded behind his back, looking relatively relaxed considering his situation. And by the looks of it, he hadn't even moved the basic chair and table that had been in the cell. He just.. paced, back and forth, back and forth. Only pausing when speaking or addressing, though the latter was split between someone, and no one at all.
"If I'm being honest, I am.. mildly surprised that you were able to construct something that would be able to hold their kind," He said, moving across the length of the cell so he was level with E.
"And you as well. Proves just how much.. power you claim to have," E added, a sliver of malice in his tone.
"Well, yes I suppose," Fear mused, giving a slight nod as he looked around at the nothingness of his cell. He paced back a few steps, and added, "And I suppose now, you are going to attempt to try and get information out of me? Because I'm not going to waste your already shortened lifespan, and telling you right now that you'll be just as confused and irritated as you are currently."
E gave no response, the glare only hardening as he turned away, issuing orders to his men that were far too quiet for anyone, baring the guards, to hear. The group of three returned to the analysist group and the rest of the stationary guards. And even as he moved away, E was sure that the Demon had that arrogant, yet knowing smirk across his pale features.
"Anything on their biology?" E questioned, leaning over the pair of seated scientists to take a look at the many screens sitting before them.
"For the Wolf, it's got lungs roughly 45% larger than the average humans and from the DNA extraction that resulted in Dave almost losing his arm, we've got a DNA template. And it's.. pretty impressive, if I'm totally honest," One scientist said, turning to speak with E as he brought up the relative files. "As for the Demon.. we're comparing his template to the samples that we managed to get from Bansheera, but so far they're proving to not be of much use."
E nodded slowly, giving a slight pat on the scientists shoulder. "Well, keep up the work. The more we get on them, the better."
Just as he fell silent, the door of the Cell Wing slid open and another scientist walked through, on the shorter side of the height argument, and seemed to be balding. In his hands he carried a four-cup holder, two of which had Starbucks in it, and a tablet firmly held in place under his arm, a feature that was only really noted when he was closer.
"Also, E, a report came in for you," The new man said, taking the tablet out and offering it to the head of D-13.
E glanced between the man and the tablet, before taking the device and flicked through the report. He looked back up after a few seconds, this time with a cocked eyebrow. "And what kind of kidnapping is supposed to interest me?"
"Take a look at the reported kidnappers," The man said, gesturing to scroll down.
E, though skeptical, did so and for a brief second, his eyes widened before they faded and was replaced with a small smirk at the corner of his face. "Well now.. now we can add kidnapping to their list," He said, handing the tablet back. "Keep an eye on those two, and see what else you can pick from the files," He called as he made for the door, vanishing soon after.
Small chatter and information exchanged between the now three colleagues was all that filled the rather large room. Yet despite the relative silence of the room, gears were turning and scrambling for information. However, this source wasn't sitting in front of a computer.
"Bansheera…" Fear muttered under his breath, slowly turning around to have his back to the viewing glass, and began starring intensely at the wall before him. Searching, thinking…
"What do they know?"
THUD!
"Fuck!" Tyler exclaimed, already feeling the warm trickle of coppery blood trickling down his nose. Whatever had blinded him seemed to effect his ability to walk, but last he remembered, he was on rough concrete.
This felt much colder, like steel.
"Where the fuck…?" He asked himself, pushing himself up and over onto his back, propped up by his elbows. Already, the crimson blood ran over his lip and small droplets started to land on the ground. He was midway through wiping the trickle when he started to notice important features of.. wherever he was now. He rose to his feet, albeit unsteady, and as if that was a trigger, a blinding light suddenly lit up. His arms crossed his face, eyes squinting shut and given time to adjust. As they began to, Tyler's arms started to move down and vague shapes could be made out.
A desk, smooth with no apparent space beneath, with what appeared to be different screens scattered across. And upon closer inspection, Tyler noticed how they all appeared to be from different eras of tech. He went to touch the closest one, but before contact was made, a sudden voice caused him to jump, nearly out of his skin.
"I'm not gonna lie to you," A feminine voice said, Tyler turning around to see that someone was standing across the room from him. She had her arms crossed, and littered across the exposed forearms, several dark, ugly bruises of various nasty shades and scars criss-crossed one another.
"This is gonna be a lot to understand," Tanya said, and tried taking another step towards Tyler. But he took another step back, almost knocking over one of the monitors.
He went to reach back, and frantically try to keep it on the desk, but found another set of hands had already pushing the monitor back in place. He all but leapt back, seeing it was Tanya, turning around to where she had been not a second ago, only to see nothing standing where she had been.
"H.. How d'you…?" He stammered, looking between Tanya's previous and now current spot.
"MUTT'll get pissed if you break one of these," Tanya warned as she made some final adjustments. Satisfied, she turned back to Tyler and casually smirked, a stark contrast to the open-mouthed, shocked expression on his face. "Look, you've probably got no idea what's going on, but-"
"Damn straight I don't know what's fucking going on! My city gets fucked up, one of you fuckers attacked me and my dad, and you kidnap me?! What the fuck is wrong with you guys?!" Tyler asked, voice blasting from the get go, looking about ready to try and attack Tanya right there and then. Instead, he started walking in small circles, running his fingers through his shortened hair and droplets of panic sweat trickling down his skin. "What the fuck?! Seriously!"
Tanya remained where she was, arms folded across her chest as she waited for Tyler to calm down, or run out of breath. It seemed the latter happened first, as he eventually stopped speaking and began breathing deeply, hands on his knees and bent over. She carefully strolled over, leaning against the desk he had taken up. "You're gonna need to be more open to ideas, Tyler. Especially with what you're gonna be working with from now on."
He looked up at his name, and replied with, "What the fuck are you talking about?" As he rose to his full height, now finding that he and Tanya were pretty similar heights. "And who the hell is that Mutt guy you talked about? And what kind of name is that anyway?"
A door slid open with a sudden hiss, causing Tyler to jump and turn around all in one motion. Unsure if it was him or not, but the lighting around the door seemed purposely dimmed. The sound of metal skimming the floor drew closer, as the figure came into the light.
"That would be MUTT," Tanya introduced, a semi-smug grin plastered on her face as she watched Tyler's jaw drop and eyes go wide as MUTT walked into the light. Arms folded behind his back, MUTT came a stop just in front of the pair, bending down slightly so he was almost eye level with Tyler. All Tyler did was stare blankly back, unsure of where exactly to look, no eyes to stare into, only a sort of visor with a red slit across.
"Odd, your records put you a few inches taller," MUTT said, causing Tyler to step back and almost knock over another piece of tech, thankfully, it barely reached the edge of the desk. He looked up and down the metal form of the robot before him, and if his increased breathing and darting eyes were any indication, this was the point where Tanya had expected it to happen.
His brain was struggling to process all this.
"H... H... But, he's.. what…?" he stammered, further proving Tanya's point.
"He's a robot.. mostly... I think. Honestly, we don't even know what he is entirely. And he's not gonna tell us," Tanya explained as MUTT finally moved away, giving Tyler a little bit of breathing room, and moved to one of the monitors and keyboards.
"And even if I wanted to, the files have been corrupted beyond repair," MUTT threw in.
"I... I gotta go!" Tyler exclaimed, rushing off before Tanya could grab him. He ran towards what he hoped was the way out. Tanya went to run after him, but something caught her senses and she stopped herself.
The door Tyler had chosen slid open, but instead of breaking for freedom and forgetting all of this ever happened, he was met with a near-immovable, surprisingly furry, wall. The momentum he carried when he struck the 'wall' was great enough to send him bouncing backwards, landing squarely on his ass. "What the-?" Tyler demanded, but stopped dead when he got a look at the towering mass he had collided with. "B... Big fuc.. fucking... Wolf…" He commented quietly, scurrying back as Savage entered the Command Room.
"The Howler is compatible with Mr Prescot," MUTT reported.
"Hmm.. good. Though the training will have to be more.. steam-lined," Savage commented as he looked over the still sitting Tyler.
"It's stream-lined, Savage," Tanya corrected.
"Never mind how he fucking pronounces it? He can fucking talk," Tyler all but shouted, finally finding his feet beneath him and, after weighing his options, moved over to stand alongside Tanya. He looked at her, and said, "Why am I the only one freaking out about this?!"
"Honestly, you think we didn't when we first saw him?"
The four turned at the new voice, finding Natalie and Kyle were now present, the former of which already had her helmet under her arm, while the latter was in the process of doing the same. "Seriously, we were fucking jumping when he brought us here. Trust me, that was way better than what we had to deal with," Kyle agreed.
"Yeah, like seriously, I don't understand what he's so ungrateful about," Tanya said, moving across to speak with the newly present Warriors.
"You still think I want to be here?! What the fuck is wrong with you people?" Tyler shouted, bringing the attention off of the armoured Warriors. "Have you lost your fucking minds? You're teenagers! I'm a teenager! We get in trouble, we put stupid mods on cars! What we don't do, is get involved with some kind of wannabe team of super heroes!"
"I... I need some air," Tyler finally finished with, chest heaving as he looked around. "Just... Just let me get out of here, and get some air."
Tanya exchanged looks with the others, ranging from disapproval from Savage, to a look of empathy from Natalie, to a blank look from MUTT's featureless head. She eventually turned back to Tyler, and exhaled as she said, "Door to the right, then the third on the left."
Not wasting another second, Tyler quickly moved off, cautiously moving around Savage and stopped before the door. He hesitantly took a step closer, and the door slid open. He quickly moved through, not even looking back as the door slid shut again.
"What the actually living hell? We went and got him, and you think you can just tell him where to fuck off?" Kyle asked, stepping up to Tanya a few seconds after the door slid close.
"Yes, actually," She responded bluntly, walking past the clearly agitated Kyle. "But I never said anything about sending him back to the City."
"You still sent him outside," Natalie replied shortly, a scowl quickly forming on her lips at Tanya's nonchalant way of dealing with this. "You do realize how much effort we used trying to get Tyler here? We were shot at! Granted, they didn't have any of those suit-killer bullets, but they could have!"
"I did send him outside, yeah. No doubt about that," Tanya responded, coming to a stop when she was opposite the computer MUTT was working at, leaning over partially. "He still out there?"
"Hasn't moved for the past half hour," MUTT said crisply, tapping a few keys and adjusting whatever was on screen.
"Wait.. where's Isaac?" Kyle asked.
"Third on the left.. third on the left. Bingo." Tyler quickly grabbed the old-style handle, similar to a vault handle, and gave it a quick pull. When that failed, he gave it a twist and paused when the creak echoed down the corridor. It wouldn't be the first he had looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed; with the speeds they moved at, who knows what they could do.
With another echoing turn of the handle, he gave a quick jerk and finally, the door became free. Sunlight streamed into the dimmed corridor, but Tyler was just glad to see it. He never realized just how dark the corridor was until natural light was present. Sure, that room where everyone else was had bright lighting, but it was heavily artificial.
He shook his head, and quickly opened the door the rest of the way; he really needed to get that stuff out of his head. Perhaps it would help when he was out of this place, and forget he was ever here.
Upon emerging, the sun managed to catch his eyes just enough to force him to raise his hand. While his eyes adjusted, they picked up something that he had apparently forgotten. The strange device wrapped around his wrist, pain gone entirely now, yet it was still very much on his wrist. He lowered his wrist again, taking his time to detail the exact device as he left the underground bunker, door wide open.
"How the fuck does this come off…?" He asked himself, free hand holding the other wrist as he examined the underside wrap. Looked like some kind of leather, but Tyler knew that it was more than just that. "These are fucking Power Rangers for God sake.. like they're gonna have their Morphers held onto them by freaking leather."
He tried giving it a tug, but nothing budged. He tried from a different angle, yet still nothing. As he walked, he twisted it around and got a good, detailed look at the actual face of the Morpher. He looked closer, noting how it seemed layered, like it itself was armour plated. He went to touch the prominent crystal that made up the brightly-lit eye, but an even more prominent growl vibrated through his arm, and the air, prompted him to pull his arm back, stopping dead in his tracks.
"They don't like that, you know."
Tyler twisted sharply at the new voice, looking around wearily even when he found the source. Though his back was to him, Tyler could make out another teen. Despite this, however, he could tell this teen was talking solely to him.
He told himself that he had to leave, and leave quickly. But there was something in his gut that told him to.. at least see who this guy was. Even before he came to his final decision, he found his feet had made the choice, taking slow steps towards the guy. Coming to a stop a few feet beyond the teen, Tyler got a few more details in. The hair was short and scruffy, and from the looks of it, the jacket he wore had seen better days. It looked like.. slices had been cut out of the sleeves and one of the shoulders, though the shirt he wore beneath hid them to a degree. And was that.. blood?
"The Howlers are stuck no matter what," The other teen continued, as if knowing exactly where Tyler was behind him, yet still didn't turn around. "I'd go into detail, but you probably won't like it."
Tyler didn't respond, though his hand found itself gently holding the face of the Morpher, idly scratching the flawless metal. That was when he took note of where this guy was standing; the earth was upturned and put back, resembling the rough shape of a rectangle. Slowly, a cold feeling of dread formed a pit in Tyler's stomach. "Is.., Is that…?" He questioned, though the same gut feeling told him he already knew the answer he was dreading.
"Yeah…" The other teen responded, just as hesitantly as Tyler's question. Tyler found his hand unintentionally picking at the edges of the Morpher.
"I take it you're the Red guy, in this.. what d'you call it? Pack? Team? Or do you prefer it if I call you lot a load of power-mad fuckers?"
The other teen smirked and chuckled a few times at the insult capping off the question, keeping it short yet somewhat bitter. "Pretty good guess.. what makes you think I'm Red then, eh? Don't look like much of a leader right now, do I?"
"Educated guess," Tyler replied evenly, arms coming to rest across his front.
"Those two sent to snatch me and fuck my old man up, they're in their suits. Other chick's Mor... How.. whatever the fuck they're called, hers' was yellow. I've got Blue. And considering the process of elimination, and the fact you knew what I was doing before I even knew, it kinda makes sense," Tyler responded shortly, his words calculated and chosen wisely.
The other teen nodded slightly, replying with a short, "Fair enough." A silence came over the pair briefly, but was quickly broken by the same one who started the initial pause. "Look, best guess I've got is that the others didn't really convince you? Or did Savage and MUTT just freak you the fuck out?"
Tyler looked across at the other teen, and realization suddenly dawned on him and a sour look overcame his features. "They never had any intentions of letting me get out of this, were they?"
"Sorry to say, but you're stuck in this now," The teen revealed with a slight nod, turning to actually side-glance at Tyler. "You may not like this, and I'm not a person who tries to sprinkle a pile of shit, this thing will probably fuck you up. A lot. Sometimes, you will question why you're even bothering. Matt-"
There was a lingering pause, long enough for Tyler to look across, and a semi-pained look seemed to overtake the teen's face, with eyes screwed shut momentarily. Barely two seconds passed before he opened his eyes once again and tried to hide the previous expression, resuming, "Matt.. he died for this. Died for me. Those... Government bastards killed him, thinking that'd stop us…"
"…Now you're bullshitting. They said the Blue Ranger was killed by those.. freaky fuckers," Tyler retorted, walking carefully around the grave, mindful of what lay mere feet below him, so he was directly opposite the other teen.
"I was fucking there. He died in my arms. Trust me, I think I know what killed him," was the sharp snap of a reply, even surprising Tyler at the fire behind the words. "I hardly think the government are gonna make themselves look like the bad guys when you've got fucking Wolkeins running around…"
"What the hell is a Wolkein?" Tyler asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Those faceless bastards you see us fighting constantly. At least I think you do, I really don't give a shit about what you Americans watch on the news. Gonna be biased against us."
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm gonna need a context page to understand half of what the hell you guys are gonna be talking about. That's even if I consider actually staying for this shit," Tyler said, pacing back and forth a few times, lasting the length of the grave separating them.
"I've already told you, you don't really have a say in it. The Howlers already bonded with your blood, and you're not gonna get it off unless you're willing to part with that wrist of yours," The other teen said, dropping the bombshell. "But if you're going to listen to anything that I say, then this had better be it." He walked around the grave, a noticeable limp in his steps, as he got on the same side as Tyler.
"Any pain that you're gonna go through, any.. mental breakdowns or suicidal thoughts, trust me, with what could happen if we don't stop this threat, then those are gonna be tiny in the scale when everything's taken into consideration."
He took a step closer, barely three feet separating the pair now. "I had my doubts about doing this, just so you know. And while I'm sure others would have accepted this.. fate, you could call it, in a heartbeat, I'm sure they wouldn't have lasted as long as this. Matt was strong, you've just got to prove that you're stronger."
There was another pause, before the teen leaned back, saying, "Now I've got to get back in there, so the choice is yours. It'd be much better, for all of us, if you do it willingly, the only really way out of this.. is when you die."
Tyler exchanged a look with the teen as they backed up, limping around the grave and headed towards the door he just came through. "I've really got no choice, have I?" he asked, still standing on the spot.
"No... But the moment that Howler was put on your wrist, your life? Your old life is gone, you've only got this life or the Government won't hesitant to hunt you down and do exactly what they did to Matt," The teen stated, rolling his shoulder slowly while the other hand clenched into a slight fist. A moment passed and his hand relaxed slightly, and he continued walking. "We're assholes, don't get me wrong. But in this situations, you'll be one of the good assholes." He walked a few steps further, before throwing, "Name's Isaac, by the way. Figured you'd need to know, since we're gonna be working close together, pretty soon."
With that, he vanished from sight, disappearing behind the trees and ducking into the bunker-like entrance. Leaving Tyler by himself, with only the freshly turned dirt spoiling his surroundings. His eyes exchanged between his feet, the dirt before him and the Howler that now seemed very present on his wrist. He raised it up again, catching the light just enough to reflect brightly, the eye's gem glowing brightly. As if the Howler itself was presenting some sort of life. 'Maybe that's what he meant,' Tyler thought, turning his wrist and watched as the light as it channeled through the crystal. He inhaled slowly, eyes closing shut, hiding the thoughts running through his head as he tried coming to a conclusion.
So...this was probably one of the longer spaces between updates. For this, I can only apologize so much. From now, I'm not going to have a set schedule for parts coming out; they'll come out as they go.
As always, please R this is what motivates me to write more parts :P
Nf991