Episode 23 - The God's Hand, Part 4
"You've made good progress in your ability to control the Lightning Brothers," Savage commented, as the doors slid open to let Natalie and Tyler walk into the Den.
Tyler let a small smirk cross his lips, while Natalie had a beaming smile on her face and gave Tyler a reassuring bump of the shoulder as she moved across to the Den to sit on one of the desks. "Like I told him," she said, gesturing to Tyler, "it was like something just clicked with him. Right after I talked with you, and next thing I saw, he had that Zord wrapped around his finger."
MUTT looked up from his monitor, saying, "She's meaning figuratively, Savage."
"Yes…" Savage agreed, giving a side-long glance to MUTT for his comment, walking down from the raised section and towards the two teenagers.
Tyler wasn't sure if he was still being paranoid or anything; while he had been assured plenty of times about Savage and his temperament, the Wolf-Man had that look of…something he didn't like in his eye.
"Though I am not going to dismiss this great leap forward in progress, I am curious as to how it came about so suddenly," Savage explained, coming to a stop mere feet from Tyler. And while the teen stood his ground against him, Savage picked up several small signs of his anxiety. Nothing would escape his nose. "I want you to be truthful for this next question," Savage's voice dropped a slight level, taking another small step, enclosing his presence around the teen.
All sense of achievement and cheer quickly drained from the Den at Savage's question; even Natalie's smile slowly faded from her face, and MUTT's typing slowed to a crawl.
Tyler himself brought his eye up to meet Savage, swallowing a small lump in his throat he didn't know was there. "Shoot," he said, faux calm pushed across his expression.
Savage's eyes slowly moved to get a good, long look at the subtler expressions twitching across the human's face. With a slow exhale, hitting Tyler right in the face, Savage questioned, "Did you have help, Tyler? Did you…have a vision?"
His jaw tightened for a second, managing to relax it enough to respond with a, "You gotta…be a bit more specific than that."
The wolf's eyes narrowed a fraction at the sarcastic edge to Tyler's tone, though let it slide for the time being as he further pressed his questioning. "The others have all had…visions of a higher power; a God, if you will. The God of my people. Zeta."
Even though he was focusing all of his attention of Savage and his pressing questions, Tyler caught something in the corner of his eye that made him give a low, sharp inhale. 'Of course he fucking turns up now,' Tyler thought sourly, trying to give a glare over Savage's shoulder, without making it look like he was giving one.
The white coat stood out, even with Matt leaning against the sterile white walls of the Den. He stood in the exactly spot that allowed him to be seen over Savage's shoulder. But before Tyler could get the full message of his glare across, that 'this wasn't the best time' for him, he paused when he noticed something that was immediately cause for concern.
No cocky smirk. Not even one corner twisted into a grin.
Simply a stoic expression, finished off when he raised a finger and held it to his lips, giving Tyler a slight shake of the head.
"Tyler?"
He was snapped back to what was present in front of him when Natalie called his name, coming up a short distance away from the stand-off. His eyes briefly glanced over to Natalie, seeing the concerned and slightly puzzled look across her face, before returning to Savage's now intensified glare.
"A…I-I…." he struggled to find the right words, as though anything he tried to say was ripped out before he had a chance to speak. And even if he had managed to form the words, they would have been drowned out. The alarm sounded, blaring obnoxiously loud while they were bathed in the red warning light.
"MUTT?" Savage questioned, pulling himself away from Tyler instantly, and quickly moving back to stand up to the podium behind MUTT.
Tyler took a small step back, giving a quick look around the Den, and noticed they were down a person… 'He's gone; conveniently,' he thought to himself bitterly, though ensured to keep those thoughts to himself as Natalie approached, both her helmet and his in hand.
"What're we going up against this time?" Natalie asked, helmet on and locked into place before Tyler had even fully grabbed his.
MUTT clicked a few buttons and looked over the readings in double-time. "It's the Demon they described from Japan; it's arrived in Pax."
"What?!" Tyler exclaimed, looking at Natalie and quickly locking his helmet back on as they rushed up to the other side of the barrier, straining to look at the screen from the sides.
"And he's already been scaled up; I'll prepare the Megazords and try to bring the others back to Pax Valley as soon as possible."
"MUTT, get on that," Savage seconded, patting the robot on the shoulder as he moved around to lean over the railing; Natalie and Tyler giving him space before he even got near. "You two, get out in your Zords and try to fight this Demon off as long as you can. We'll get the others to you as soon as we get them back here."
"On it," Natalie confirmed with a nod, turning to Tyler and giving a slight head jerk towards the exit. She got a nod in return, and in streaks of blue and white, the pair tore out of sight, leaving a small breeze in their wake.
"You think they can fight against this Demon?" MUTT questioned, only doing so as the door slide close behind the Warriors. He lifted his head from the screen, looking towards Savage; greeted by the back of the Wolf's head, facing the just closed door.
"No…this Demon is new to all of us. And if this is one of Horror's Hands, the Warriors will need all the help they can get to defeat him," Savage mused, bringing one hand to carefully stroke the underside of his muzzle. Like an epiphany, he gave a snap of his fingers and pointed back to the robot. "MUTT, bring out the Rogues."
"Understood," MUTT announced, resuming his tapping at the keyboard as Savage turned and headed through one of the other doors, disappearing with a flick of his trench coat.
"That Witch…"
Masutā seethed to himself as he looked at his surroundings; not the chilling cold that used to welcome him upon stepping foot in his Masters' domain. Instead, everything was so…bright. The sudden contrast he faced after traveling through the portal was enough to momentarily blind him.
And when his eyes had finally adjusted to the bright sunlight, he was able to see what lay before him.
A human settlement, far larger than it ever should have been. Standing as an insult to the Master, and acting as a false beacon of ownership of this planet.
How it sickened him.
"The humans defile my Masters' land…they do not deserve to grovel at His feet. But make no mistake, Witch." His fingers tightened around his swords' handle, giving a swift tug free of its sheath. The now titanic-sized blade was pulled free, a green trail left behind as he brought it across his body. "You will be next."
The ground shook with every step the colossal Demon took towards Pax Valley.
"We've got a Demon entering Pax!"
Clint burst through the doors, fighting through the stream of armed soldiers as he made his way to the control centre of the HQ. Monitors were a glaring red alarm, with multiple sirens going off; he'd heard them throughout the facility during the sprit to the control centre.
"What's the statue on Agent E's location?" he demanded, shoving past a couple of scientists rushing back and forth, fighting his way across the room to one sitting at a computer. His hand gripped the back of the seat tightly, probably would have pushed the scientist seated aside if the chair had wheels, though that didn't stop him from trying.
"We got him on tracking, he's on the way to the facili-"
"No, no, no! Deploy the Zord assets, and divert the teleporter to the cockpit. He's gonna need to be out there the second he gets back," Clint insisted, almost hitting the monitor as he gestured to different coordinates currently on display.
"Sir?" the confused techie responded.
"By the time we get him back here, then send him out in the Zords, that Demon's gonna already be at the city," Clint explained, stressing every word, especially towards the end as he gestured to the screen again, from the marked location to the border of Pax. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"Ye-No, sir."
As the scientist quickly made the adjustments, and the other scientists briskly returned to work as Clint stood up again, the doors burst open again.
"Agent Clint!"
His head twisted slightly at the particular tone Fairweather used; like a mother scolding a child. Clint turned around slowly, finding Fairweather storming across the gap between the door and where he had been helicoptering the scientist. Her steps echoed unnaturally loud, even with the background noise of keyboard keys tapping, and Clint found himself suddenly trying to avoid her glare.
Whatever had happened, it hadn't sat well with her.
"Ms Fairweather. As you can see, we're bu-"
"Where's Elijah? I need to speak to him, now."
Clint's jaw tightened slightly, and after prying his jaw apart again, stiffly replied, "Agent E has been redirected to his Megazord to stop this Demon from reaching the city limits." He gestured behind him, Fairweather flicking her glare from Clint to one of the monitors.
Her jaw tightened as she saw his words to be true, and returned her fiery stare to the man unfortunate enough to be standing in front of her.
"Come with me, now."
Clint cocked an eyebrow, turning to look around at the various scientists and techies working at the computers. "I'm needed around h-"
"Now."
He paused quickly when he saw the threatening glare behind Fairweather's glasses. The hand pointing behind him quickly fell back down to his side, uttering a quiet, "Make it quick," as he walked past Fairweather and towards the door.
The scientist turned to keep an eye on him, burning holes in the back of Clint's head as she followed behind him. "Believe me, I intend to," she warned, briskly exiting the control room and slammed the door shut behind her.
"Hey, motherfucker!"
A series of impacts, and resulting vibrations through the ground, made Masutā paused mid-step. He completed the latest step, and turned around slowly to see the fading dust cloud surrounding the Wolf Zords. The Beta hung back a little, a snarl ripping through the metal fangs, while the Omega lead the charge; the growl tearing through its throat sounding as though it was ready to tear its voice box apart. Several panels across the back of its neck were raised, giving off the appearance of being larger than it actually was.
"Only two? Do I not deserve to face the Pack in its entirety? Do I not deserve that honour?" Masuta questioned, sword drawn and pointed towards the two Zords; slowly moving from one to another, choosing his target.
"Oh, you'll face the rest of us soon enough; we're just the welcoming party," Tyler responded to himself, fingers flexing into fists as he shifted stances. The Zord mirrored his movements, front paw moving forward and digging into the ground, another snarl echoing off the metal.
Only getting the snarl from the Beta Zord, Masutā zeroed in on that Wolf Zord, twisting the blade around, the sunlight hitting the steel and making it give off a greenish glow. "No matter…you are an enemy of the Master. I may prefer a fight with more evenly-matched opponents, but…needs must," the Demon commented aloud, as he slowly advanced on the two Zords.
"Tyler, I'll go around him. Try to keep his attention so he doesn't try t-"
Natalie was cut off when another impact shook the ground beneath all three. The Demon came to a stop for the second time in as many minutes, and turned to the source of the latest impact.
"This is Special Agent E, of the United States Special Forces. This is your one and only warning; stand down, and you shall be dealt with accordingly." The loudspeaker boomed around the vast area, echoing from the Lone Wolf Megazord as it rose from the landing position it had been forced to go into.
"How's he here so quickly?" Natalie asked herself.
"I thought he was in Japan?" Tyler questioned.
"He was."
"It is you who will be dealt with, Silver Wolf. We were unable to come to an honourable outcome during our last encounter," Masutā responded, sword raised to point towards the Megazord. His feet turned away from the city to point in the direction of the Megazord, taking the first few steps towards it.
"This honor-mind set of yours comes second to the preservation of the culture of the human race," E said over the speakers, flicking a few switches in the cockpit, turning the speakers off again,as he looked through the visor. "But I do intend on getting to a proper conclusion to that fight," he added under his breath.
The Megazord's arms reached out to the sides, blades extending from the wrists and sparking up, radiating a faint blue glow against the metal plates of the body as he moved into a defensive stance.
Masutā's eyes narrowed slightly, gripping his sword with both hands and brought the blade to his side. He continued on his path towards the Lone Megazord, completely losing interest in the two Wolf Zords at his opposite side.
"What the fuck do we do now then?" Tyler asked.
"Not much we can do right now. At least that guy's got the Demon's attention. Let's just hope the others get here soon and take this guy out quickly," Natalie responded, checking over a few of the control. She quickly brought her head back up again, hearing the first blows being exchanged.
"Until then…we've just gotta wait."
Masuta brought his sword downward, barely missing the Lone Megazord as it dodged, sinking his blade into the ground a considerable depth. A swift tug pulled it free of the ground, bringing it across his body just in time to block the double-strike E tried to swing down upon him.
His feet finding a steady hold on the ground, the Demon pushed back, sending the Megazord staggering backwards. The Warlord then pressed his attack, advancing on the recovering Megazord, sword held at his side.
E grunted in the cockpit of the Megazord, managing to find his footing after the forceful shove. Taking a steady stance, he brought his arms across his chest and clenched is fists. The Megazord mirrored his movements, blades resting over one another; energy sparking, arching between the pair. Both locked together when Masutā's blade came down between them, sparking all the way up the length of the Demon's weaponry.
The Demon's sword slowly moved forward slowly, grinding against the two blades as he moved closer, leaning in towards the head piece of the Megazord.
E's entire view through the cockpit's windows was eclipsed by the toxic-green light. He held the glare with the titanic Demon, arms clenching up to keep the stance.
"You are doomed to perish, Warrior. You merely delay the inevitable," Masutā's voice echoed around his cockpit. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, as though the voice was coming from directly beside him. Though at the same time, he heard several alarms and lights popping up to the console on his other side, his eyes darting to look towards them.
"Oh, I don't think I'm the one who's doomed. Not today, anyway," E responded, bringing one of the Megazord's legs backwards, and used this to shove the arms forward, pushing the Demon off.
Masuta was pushed back a step, reaffirming his stance and was about to re-enter a battle-ready stance when he felt tremors through the ground, which made him pause for a few seconds. He turned around slowly, always mindful to keep the Megazord in his peripheral vision.
He turned just to watch the Wolf Pack Megazord complete its formation, slowly shifting into a fighting stance, fits raised.
"Glad you guys got here just in time," Natalie commented in relief, looking to the other three Warriors, the group now back up to their full strength.
"Feels good to be back," Tanya agreed, giving a short nod of greeting to both Natalie and Tyler before turning her eyes back to the visor. "We'll catch up later. Right now, we've got this guy to take care of."
"He ain't gonna go down easy," Isaac stated, leading the group as they shifted the Megazord the fight-ready stance, fingers firmly closed up into fists. "We've got to hit him with everything we got."
Tyler looked back at Kyle, the two briefly exchanging a nod, and while the former turned his attention back to the matter at hand, Kyle took a second longer after a side-long glance at the back of Isaac's head. He exhaled slowly, bringing his eyes back to focus on the Demon, dead in their sights.
Masuta slowly looked between the two Megazords, glare barely lingering on each for a few seconds before moving to the other. His fingers flexed around his swords' handle, an indignant scoff coming from beneath the armour. "You humans were never one for a fair fight…it appears some things never truly change," the Demon Warlord stated, sword slowly coming up to follow his head movement between the two Megazords. "No matter," he continued, twirling his sword around, the handle rolling over his fingers and over the back of his palm, landing in his palm again. "All of you shall eventually fall."
"Enough chit-chat," E finally broke the silence, getting his Megazord to move forward, advancing on the Demon with one of its arms swinging for his head. But the sword was blocked, the steel clashing with the electricity, igniting sparks, before Masutā delivered a shoulder strike to the Megazord's head.
It stumbled backwards, several small alarms going off in the cockpit, as the Demon added to the momentum by shoving forward, blades parting. He quickly closed the gap, barely any time given for E to properly recover, and tried bringing a strike downward.
E barely managed to block the initial attack, but couldn't react quickly enough to block the kick to the chest; the force of which sent him flying backwards, landing a short distance away. Mud collected in some of the panels, enough force to tear off the smaller panels or those that apparently weren't as well fitted as first seemed.
That matter now dealt with, at least for the moment, Masutā turned back around. The punch to his helmet would have connected, had he not side-stepped to avoid it, the Megazord leaning in with the punch, leaving the helmets of the two titans too close for comfort. The Demon landing a punch, warping the metal plates of the torso, sending it staggering backwards to try and recover.
"I had my doubts that you would live up to the legacy left for you," Masutā commented aloud, slowly advancing on the stumbling Megazord. It managed to recover, and the teens inside tried throwing a punch together. But their blow was blocked by Masutā's forearm, removing all the momentum they tried throwing at him.
"I am glad to be proven right."
A heat-butt from Masutā connected with the Megazord's, quickly followed up by a diagonal strike across the torso. Sparks flew from the latest gash in the metal, the teens getting a shower in the process, as they formed a gap between the two.
"Come on guys!" Isaac shouted, establishing the Megazord's footing again, rolling his shoulders as he heaved breath. "Get your shit together!"
"What do you think we're doing?!" Tyler shouted back, joining the others as they brought the Megazord's fists up, and raised one forearm to block a strike from Masutā's sword. The other hand was extended outward, the Tail Blade folding out from the palm, and struck the exposed torso.
The Demon grunted as he was struck, only sparking the armour on his side as the Megazord pushed his sword up, freeing themselves and slipping out of his grasp. Briefly holding onto his side, the Warlord turned around, eyes shifting beneath his helmet. Narrowing slightly as the two Megazords stood alongside one another, weapons drawn and ready.
E briefly looked aside, the Megazord following his moves, as he saw the Rangers' Megazord step up into view. His jaw tightened under his helmet, twisting into a displeasured scowl, before he turned his eyes forward, facing the Demon. "Just this once."
"Think we can trust him?" Tanya questioned, seeing the slight movements of the other Megazord in their peripheral vision.
"No, but what choice do we have? We got our asses handed to us last time, even with him," Kyle responded, the five of them spun the holographic Tail Blade around their hands, bringing it into a two-handed hold. "We just need to be ready, when we take this Demon out."
"You sound pretty confident," Natalie uttered under her breath, giving a slight shake of her head.
"Well someone has to," Kyle countered.
"Guys," Tanya stated firmly, glancing over at the two. "Zip it. Focus."
She was sure she received a glare from both, but any chance of that was pushed aside as their collective effort was re-directed to the Demon.
The Lone Wolf Megazord crossed the blades in front of itself, arcs of energy reaching between the two. "Follow my lead," E commented, finding it a bit fruitless to attempt to give orders to these Rangers, but thought it was at least worth trying.
His Megazord moved in first, rushing the Demon with arms extended to the sides; the Wolf Pack Megazord following shortly behind his, the five teens moving in sync as the ground shook beneath the running titans.
This marked the start of the three-way battle, swords clashing one another and blows landing; with various degrees of damage inflected. Steel was slashed, metal was warped and the ground was shaken beneath the constant beating. The teens and E were thrown about their cockpits with every staggering blow Masutā landed, and yet, try as they might, no blow they landed seemed to cause much damage to the Demon.
With the latest kick from the Warlord, the Wolf Pack Megazord was thrown to the ground, shoulder digging into the ground and created the latest deep, extensive groove in the ground. The teens inside were thrown around, only held in place by the various cables locking them in position.
"What's it gonna take to bring this fucker down?!" Tanya shouted, favouring her left shoulder-she was sure it was suffering with the constant impacts with the ground-as she and the others tried getting into a fight-ready stance again.
"Tyler, the Lightning Zords. Think you can bring them out?" Natalie asked, looking across at the Blue Warrior. He looked back to her, and was about to respond when Isaac butted in.
"Drop it, Nat. He ain't ready for shit like this," Isaac stated, eyes focused forward as he tried bringing his own arms up into a stance matching the others. But just as he was about to, all he was met with was heavy resistance.
"Fuck sake, Isaac! What's your fucking problem?!" Kyle demanded.
"You're still giving him shit, and for what?! Matt's gone, Isaac. There's nothing you can do to change that now," Tanya quickly followed up, as Isaac turned back forward. "He doesn't deserve this! No-one does!"
"Guys, we need to focus," Natalie tried to press, though she was drowned out by the constant bombardment. The two voices steadily rose, echoing off of the walls and smacking right back into the faces of the quieter three. And as the words became louder and more insulting, Isaac's hand steadily grew into a tight fist.
Tyler took note, even feeling the steadily building rage from the Red warrior; and it seemed ready to make itself known to the others.
"That's enough!"
Those two words brought everything else to a sudden stop. Silence consumed the cockpit, and where possible, they turned to face the source. Isaac looked over his left shoulder, and all at once, his breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened beneath his visor. The corner of his vision caught a small twinkle, the corner of his visor catching a fraction of the light coming from the hand grasping his shoulder.
"Matt?" Isaac asked quietly.
"What the hell are they doing?!"
E found that same phrase repeating itself a number of times, whenever he looked across the battlefield the clearing had become, and saw the other Megazord simply standing there as he fought the Warlord alone. His wrist blades had deactivated a short time beforehand, and he was certain the tests the scientists did on the Megazords' range of movement weren't as extensive as the ones he was putting them through.
Despite both of them having heavy, bulky builds to them, Masutā and E displayed maneuvererability and speed that was reminiscent of their original sizes. Masutā's strikes were as fast, and as deadly, as ever, and E found cramps forming throughout his limbs.
However, he failed to dodge the latest side-swipe of the Demon's sword, and the force sent him to the ground; while it was the spine of the sword, making it much blunter than the actual bladed side, it didn't make any less damage. The metal all across the Megazord was warped and torn in places, even some over the eyes that partially blocked E's view.
E tried recovering from the latest fall, but quickly grew still when he heard metal groaning from somewhere on the Megazord's body, and a quick glance to his readouts showed ample pressure being applied to the now exposed plating of the neck joint.
"You have worth, Warrior," Masutā commented, twisting the blade so that the very tip was barely hovering over the Megazord's neck. "Perhaps to a lesser opponent than myself, you could have claimed victory. Almost a pity…" The sword pulled back slightly, momentarily leaving a fraction more space, before being driven forward again, stabbing through the first few layers of metal.
Several alarms started blaring, various screens flashing red with sirens blaring right in his ear, as E tried booting up the self-repair programs. All the while, he tried booting up the power in some areas that had momentarily cut out, keeping an eye on what the Demon was saying and doing, AND checking to see if the teenagers had finally decided to get back into the fight!
"But you are an enemy of my Master, and as such, must be eliminated."
'Fucking teenagers,' E had that thought run through his head too many times to count, as he saw the Demon raise his sword back upward, aiming to bring down the finis-
Masutā shouted out all of a sudden, and E found the Demon was soon no longer standing in front of him; rather, flying through the air, coming back down to the ground with an earth-quivering force. "What the…?" E uttered to himself, quickly checking his readings to try and figure out what had happened.
His eyes found a small light beeping repeatedly across his controls; a modification he had personally asked for, and the reason why he couldn't just get on the comms with the Rangers in the other Megazord. He flicked the switch, and a familiar voice came through the speakers. And E wasn't happy one bit at the tone used…
"I have no respect for you, and I'm entirely certain the feeling is shared." A new shadow loomed over the recovering Megazord, and E almost re-activated his weaponry as the silver-accented arm reached towards him.
"But in times of need, with a common enemy to fight against, sometimes disagreement must be put aside."
The Rogue Megazord's outstretched hand turned slightly, grabbing onto the shoulder of the downed Megazord, and with a mighty effort from both controllers, the Lone Megazord was back on its feet. The two looked at one another-E briefly saw that two-legged armoured wolf at the controls, staring right back at him-before both controllers turned back to the now-standing Demon Warlord.
"Let's just get this over with," E uttered, adjusting his stance and activated his right wrist sword, extending it out and bringing it up into a battle-ready stance.
Savage shifted his own stance, the Wolf Blade quickly forming between both his and the Megazord's hands, bringing it into a defensive position, pointed at Masutā. "It will not be easy to destroy him."
Masutā's blade slowly moved from Savage to E, the two titanic Megazords standing oppose him. Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, however, and he looked to the far right to face it properly. His eyes narrowed into a scowl, and his hands adjusted to bring his sword to face the same direction as his eyes.
Both Megazord's followed the Demon's look, and all three found themselves looking at the third Wolf Megazord, battle-scarred, yet standing with them. Its head turned to look across at the other two looking at it, and those at the controls gave a small nod.
"We're doing this together," Isaac's voice came over the comms, as the Megazords quickly turned back to face the Demon.
In the cockpit, Isaac partially turned around to look to his side. "All of us," he added. At his side, Tyler turned to look at the Red Warrior, offering him a nod of affirmation. Both turned back at forward facing, and together with the other three, moved their stance to keep feet firmly planted on the ground, and drew both hands together to grip the handle of the Tail Blade.
Masuta scoffed quietly, his eyes shifting from Megazord to Megazord. "It would seem that honour does not transcend through all generations. No matter...all of you will be dealt with."
"I'm ready to shut this fucker up," Tanya proposed.
"Finally, seems we're starting to think alike," E responded, activating his other wrist blade and flexed his fingers, bringing the two blades up to have them both pointed towards Masutā.
"We're going to need time to get the Lightning Zords out," Tyler commented, looking around at the others. "Reckon we can make time?"
"We'll do what we can," Isaac confirmed, giving a small nod in return. His eyes moved back to facing forward, facing the Demon.
Time seemed to slow down, a stand-off initiating between the two sides; waiting for the first move to be made by the other. Fingers firmly tightened around weapon handles, and stances were shifted ever so slightly. One foot being favoured, then the other. The other shoulder coming forward to take the role of leading side.
Finally, Masutā made the first move; twisting his sword to rest on the other palm, igniting the hand and gliding it across the full length of the weapon. The green energy followed like a trail behind his hand, charging up the sword, all the way to the pointed tip. And in one swift motion, adjusted the hold on his sword and slashed across.
The arching wave of green energy surged forward, covering the ground between the Demon and Megazords in mere seconds. The ground rippled beneath the wave, upturning and cracking in places.
"Move!" Savage barked over the comms, quickly surging forward. The Wolf Pack Megazord moved forward and inward, mirroring the Rogue Megazord to stand against the rapidly approaching energy wave. Both the group and Savage brought the Megazords' forearms up and across the chests, and braced themselves against the ground.
The wave struck them with the force of several punches and blows all at once. The metal plating of the Zords warped and groaned under the powerful shockwave, some of the decorative panels completely buckling under the pressure it was ill-prepared for. Inside both cockpits, the teens and Savage bore the brunt of the energy, fists clenched and teeth grinding to keep their stance.
Most of the energy of the impact either absorbed or deflected by the two Megazords, however, and after sharing a quick look between themselves, quickly broke; clearing a path for E and the Lone Megazord.
The Agent surged forward, his Megazord charging between the two and towards the Demon. Both the Rogue and Wolf Pack Megazords fell into line and followed the path created by E; deflected several, less energized attacks off to both sides, slicing up the ground surrounding the three.
Masuta brought down a physical strike as soon as E was within range, sparks flying as the Megazord deflected the sword to one side, forcing the blade to sink into the ground. The Demon tried striking him with his free hand, but E's reactions were quicker, rolling under the swinging punch. His shout of aggravation was cut short by a slash across his torso, courtesy of Savage, and was sent staggering back by a following shoulder barge.
In this time, E got back to his feet and brought both swords down across Masutā's back; sparks, mixed with green energy, ignited from the attacks. All this seemed to do was further infuriate Masutā, who retaliated by swinging his entire body around, his sword following and quickly got momentum and struck E's blocking swords.
"Not this time," E uttered under his breath, pulling back slightly and shoved Masuta's sword off his own. Masuta carried the momentum, spinning back around and using it to block an attack by the Wolf Pack Megazord; swords crossed, trying to keep the other in place.
The three Megazords began throwing their attacks at the Warlord, hoping to overwhelm him and weaken him considerable. And while their attacks did noticeable scar Masutā's armour and slow his retaliating attacks, the progress was slow and they were taking excessive damage.
"Tyler!" Kyle called, head twisting to one side to avoid a shower of sparks falling over his visor. "Lightning Zords in range, get ready."
Tyler gave a nod to Kyle, quickly turning to look towards Isaac.
"It all yours, Tyler," Isaac responded, giving Tyler a look over the shoulder and a quick nod.
"On it," Tyler confirmed, unlocking himself from the controls and brought up his personal HUD. The Lightning Zords were shown closing in, with a smaller screen keeping him up to date with the actual battle. He exhaled slowly, and closed his eyes; reaching out to the Lightning Zords, feeling their presence draw closer to him.
"Reach out…" he whispered to himself, outstretched fingers twitching slightly, attempting to curl inward. Wanting to grab hold of something. Another exhale, and his fingers slowly straightening out again. "Command…"
Both sets of eyes on the Wolf Zords lit up as they approached, glowing much brighter as they picked up speed, bearing down on the fight; massive paw prints stamping deep into the dirt, the Zords leaping across great distances in mere seconds.
"There we go…"
Just over Tyler's shoulder, a glowing white light highlighted the imperfects and battle-damaged grooves. And at the centre of the light, just barely visible behind Tyler's helmet, a pair of brilliantly bright blue eyes; partially watching Tyler, while also looking beyond.
Savage snarled as he and his Megazord were slammed to the ground, getting rocked around the cockpit as he tried to recover. Stabbing his Blade into the ground and using it as an anchor to pull himself back up again, the Megazord got right back up and tried rushing back into the fight.
"Savage, look out!"
Kyle's voice suddenly came over the comms, momentarily catching Savage's attention before a crimson blur tore across his vision, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. Savage followed the blur, finding it was joined by a second, navy blur and charging directly towards the Wolf Pack.
"He has learned fast," Savage told himself, eyes narrowing a fraction as he looked towards the Megazord, before turning back around to see the Lone Silver Megazord get slammed into the ground. With a low sigh, he adjusted his hold on his weaponry and charge back into the fight.
Masutā snarled as he readjusted his stance, spinning his sword to hold it the right way up again. He paused in his latest attack on the Lone Megazord, feeling the vibrations of the other Megazord charging at him, and turned to deflect the incoming sword. A follow up punch came shortly after, but Masutā managed to pin the fist between his arm and body, pinning Savage in place.
"You honestly have hope you can defeat me?" Masutā questioned, leaning in close, peering into the eye holes of the Megazord. Applying more pressure to the arm trapped with his own, metal plating groaning and bending under the strain; Savage gritting his teeth in the cockpit as the resulting pain clenched around his arm.
"I was handpicked by the Master, chosen specifically to serve at his side and rule over a portion of his new Kingdom. What makes you think you have any chance of standing oppose me?"
He quickly raised his sword-brandishing hand up, and looked ready to bring it down across the pinned Megazord. But before he could even start the downward strike, a loud blast rang out and a sudden force struck Masutā in the shoulder raising the sword. The unexpected strike released Savage, allowing him to push back and put some space between his Megazord and Masutā.
The Demon staggered back, slumped over with hand clenching the smouldering plating of his armour. He raised his head back up and a snarl ripped through his features as his gaze landed on the smoking barrel of the Wolf Zords' jaw.
Slowly lowering the newly attached Wolf Arm, the sun caught the eyes of the Wolf Pack Megazord just right to glimmer, highlighting the scowl that was formed by the two halves of the Lightning helmet.
"Enough fucking about," Tyler panted, chest rising and falling slightly as his arm mirrored the Megazord's as it lowered. "Let's show this guy what we can do."
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Isaac commented, giving a slight nod to accompany his words.
The other teens all gave nods as well, all five of them moving their arms back down to their sides, the clenched fists slowly relaxing, if only for a moment.
Masutā slowly lowered his hand, now a tightly-clenched fist, away from his armour plated chest. This revealed the still-smouldering leather and metal, though a noticeable crack had formed up his breastplate.
"You've made a dent," Savage confirmed, backing up to fall into line with the Pack Megazord.
"Now we've got to press the advantage," E stated, falling into a fighting stance at the other side of the Pack Megazord, swords extended. "Me and the Wolf will get up close and divert his attacks, create openings for you to fire on him."
A brief noise came over the comms between the Megazords; whether it was static or a low growl coming from Savage, none of them could tell.
"Just make sure you're out of the way when we fire," Tanya remarked, rolling her head around slowly, loosening up her muscles as she locked back into stance with the others.
"Guys, focus," Isaac pressed, throwing a brief look over his shoulder to Tanya. The two shared a brief look, before returning their eyes forward.
All five of them raised their left arm, bringing the Crimson-coloured arm up and opened up the mouth; a slowly building whirl coming from within, a dim light forming in the centre of the black void between its jaws.
"Move in," E commanded, striking his blades against one another as his Megazord charged forward, closely followed by Savage's Megazord.
Masutā sent several strikes their way, the curved energy waves getting deflected by the two Megazords, twisting them to strike the ground beside them or sending them flying into the sky. They quickly closed the gap on the Warlord, Savage making the first physical strike, but the Megazord received a strike to the head with the handle of the sword.
Before the Demon could land the follow-up blow, E moved in and blocked the sword, capturing it in a lock and forcing it down to the ground. Though he received an elbow to the head as a retaliation, with Masutā forcing his sword free of the pincer-like lock.
A shot went off just as Masutā reached the top of his arc, striking him for a second time in the chest; right on the spot where his shoulder padding was attached to the main chest armour. He let out a rasp inhale and staggered back, hand clutching the latest smouldering spot; not noticing the attack from behind until the sword struck him, throwing him to the ground.
"C'mon, don't let up now!" E shouted, as he and Savage manoeuvred behind the recovering Masutā. The two exchanged a look, giving each other a wordless confirmation as they reached down. They grabbed either shoulder, forcing the Warlord to stand, pinning his arms against their chests. Masutā grunted and lashed about, trying to break free. Savage tried keeping him in place, ramming his elbow into the side of the Demon's helm, as E twisted the other elbow. "Mess him up."
"Let's do this. Divert all excess power to the Cannons," Isaac ordered, moving with the others as they all raised the other Lightning arm, opening it up and an identical whirling sound started coming from within.
The Demon pinned between Savage and E jerked and shoved against the two Megazords attempting to keep him stationary. His hands clenched up, trying to get a grip to use to his advantage. But no sooner had he managed to twist his wrist around and dug his fingers into the torso metal, a shot struck him in the chest. This stunned him long enough for the Megazords to reaffirm their grip on the Warlord.
He was continuously bombarded by cannon blasts, slamming into his armour repeatedly and ensuring that the cracks only grew deeper. And with each explosion against his chest, Masutā's resistance faltered momentarily, only getting brief glimpses of the Wolf Pack Megazord closing the gap between themselves and himself.
The shots intensified in their power the closer they got to Masutā, the teens clenching and releasing their fists in rapid succession, firing the Wolf Cannons repeatedly, to the point where the exit point of the blasts started to glow with how much heat they were dealing with.
"We can't keep this up forever," Kyle reported, tearing his eyes away from the assault to look at a flashing alarm on his screen. "We need to end this, like, right fucking now."
"Got it. Savage, Silver wannabe," Isaac shouted down the comms, briefly coming off of the cannon fire to adjust some settings on his screen. The others quickly followed suite, the energy shots coming to a momentary halt; the cannon ends glowing white hot and smoking, as the energy whining lowered a fraction. "When we say move, you better fucking move."
"I swear, if you level the city with whatever it is you're planning…" E threatened, a grave undertone to his words as he adjusted his grip on the Demon's forearm; twisting it around to an unnatural angle, E being sure he would have broken the bone by this stage.
If the Demon even had bones…
But this brief lapse of focus was more than enough for it to be too late; E felt Masutā's arm pull against his grip again. Only this time, his grip was loose enough for Masuta to break free, arm jerking forward before suddenly throwing it back. The blow struck the Lone Megazord's torso, sending it flying backwards into the ground as it turned on Savage's Megazord.
"We're running out of time Isaac!" Natalie exclaimed, her voice stressing the situation as Masuta started to reclaim the upper hand.
"I can see that!" Isaac responded frantically, rapidly moving his fingers between the keys as his eyes constantly flickered between the monitors and the sight before them; the latter quickly getting worse, as Masuta jabbed an elbow into Savage's Megazords torso, and manoeuvred around to throw the Megazord over his shoulder and into the ground.
As he reached for his sword and turned back to face the single standing Megazord, Isaac looked over his shoulder. "Kyle, the power to the cannons?!" he questioned, his voice having a frantic edge to it.
"Everything we've got spare's been re-routed to the cannons. But we gotta fucking hope this finishes him off; otherwise, we're screwed," Kyle responded, flicking his display screen aside as he glanced back to Isaac.
"Got it. Tyler's got point on this one; everyone, follow his lead," Isaac responded, looking over his other shoulder to give a small nod to the Blue Warrior. "All yours."
A brief moment of silence lapsed over the teens, all staring either at Isaac or Tyler.
Despite the impending threat that was in front of them, and the fact it would go unnoticed by the others with her helmet on, Natalie felt a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth.
Tyler gave a small nod to Isaac, both bringing their eyes forward as they and the others got into position. He exhaled slowly, rolling his head against his shoulders as he shifted his stance, bracing one foot against the ground for better support. The others followed suite, and eventually the Megazord itself had dug its heel in and twisted the dirt against the base.
No words came from the Demon Warlord, only a feral snarl came from his helmet, as he twisted his sword around one hand, holding it so the blade was held the opposite direction. He moved his feet back against the ground, and used it like a springboard as he launched forward, rapidly closing the gap between them.
"Charged!" Kyle shouted, looking across at Tyler.
"FIRE!"
Glowing energy formed in the base of the cannons, quickly traveling up its length and forming great balls of pent up energy. It rapidly built up, like two balloons forming in the wolf's open jaws; waiting for the moment it would became too much for the energy containment to handle.
And just as Masuta was within striking distance, that point was reached.
Two streaks of light, navy and crimson, burst from the cannons and struck Masuta square in the chest; he barely held onto his sword as the shockwave of the impact hit him. He tried pressing forward, despite the constant-firing that were causing further damage to his already cracked torso.
"Keep it going!" Tyler shouted, teeth git beneath his helmet; something he was sure the others were doing to fight against the increasingly forceful vibrations of the constant cannon fire. Out of the corner of his eye, one of his screens showed the steadily rising temperature of the barrel ends, along with the first of several warnings coming up.
Savage finally got his Megazord back onto its feet again, just now recovering from Masuta's counter-attack. He gave a quick shake of his head, and almost attacked when his sensors picked up something beside him; though that instinctive response still lingered, even after it turned out to be E's Megazord.
"They've got him pinned, but not for long!" E stated, gesturing to the standoff across from them.
Savage turned to look at the aforementioned standoff, and quickly grabbed his weapon. "We have to strike now; if this Warlord manages to survive it, they'll be defenceless." He rushed towards the fight before he had even finished speaking, leaving E staggering to catch up as the two moved in to help.
More chunks of his armour peeled away and fell to the ground under the intense energy, even some of the extensions to his helmet broke off. But despite this, Masutā pressed onward; slowly, but surely, managing to make up the ground between himself and the Wolf Pack.
"He's getting closer!" Tanya shouted.
"Keep it up! We let up now, we're out! We just have to hold on as long as we can!" Isaac exclaimed in response, though his eyes glanced to his own set of readouts, seeing more and more alarms start lighting up as the temperature gauge continued to rise.
"Well it doesn't look like he's going down any time soon!" Kyle observed.
"What the hell are taking those two too long?" Isaac uttered under his breath, giving a quick shake of the head before turning his full attention forward again.
His hands nearly within reach of latching onto the barrels of the Lightning cannon, Masutā had come this far; he wasn't going down that easily. While he fought back, he raised his sword up, trying to maintain a steady hold to ensure a firm strike. "I...will not…be defeated by pathetic, worthless...huma-!"
Masutā's statement was abruptly cut short, looking down to his shoulder. A blade had pierced the tattered armour; a quick look to the opposite shoulder confirmed the same, only the glow of bright blue from the blade stood out against his own green glow.
He was forced forward and downward, both E and Savage pressing their Megazords against him, and before he realized it, he was face-to-face with the white-hot core of the blaster-fire. His shouts and grunts were only drowned out by the powerful roar of the cannons. He tried to pull away with the focused cannon fire, but was held in place by Savage quickly grabbing onto the back of his head and nearly pressing it into the mouth of the Crimson Wolf.
"Come on!" Tyler shouted.
"Why won't this fucker die?!" Kyle exclaimed.
But barely a minute since they had forced the Demon to his knees, his green glow suddenly shone brightly, encasing himself within. The sudden surge of light momentarily caught the Warriors and E off guard, instinctively going to shield their eyes. Instantly, and all at once, the Lightning cannons cut out and began powering down, and both E and Savage found themselves pulling their swords free of Masutā's form. And by the time they lowered their arms again, there was a noticeable space between the three Megazords that wasn't there previously.
"Motherfucker…" Tyler uttered, breathing deeply as he and the others tried breathing deeply to recover. Their chest heaved and the cockpit was filled with their deep breaths in and out. Tyler himself definitely felt like he would have fallen over by now, had he not been held up by the controls.
Now, the three Megazords were face-to-face with one another; a pregnant pause forming across the battle-scared plains. Savage slowly looked up from his sword, and across to the Lone Silver Megazord standing beside him.
And his shift in stance didn't go unnoticed by the other Megazords.
"Well…" E started, letting out a deep sigh as he brought his Megazord back a few steps, shifting into a familiar-looking fighting stance. "I suppose this alliance wasn't to last; especially since I'm going to have to bring you i-"
A flick of Isaac's wrist cut off the comms with E.
"Was starting to get annoyed by that bastard's voice," he reasoned, though he highly doubted he needed the excuse. "What are the cannons looking like?"
"If you want to go back to punching you're sorted, but we've got no chance of firing again any time soon," Kyle reported, looking up from the readouts as the temperature gauge ever so slightly lowered.
"Well, kinda figured that," Isaac uttered under his breath, feeling the others move the Megazord and quickly followed into the same stance, fists clenching close this time.
The mouths of both the Crimson and Navy Zords quickly snapped shut, closing off the still-cooling cannons and bringing them close, in a defensive position as they created a larger gap between themselves and E.
E extended his forearms outwards, but no sooner had the blades shot out over the fists, a sudden burst of blue energy engulfed his Megazord, much to all of their surprise.
"What the hell?!" E shouted to himself, looking around at his controls and readouts, reaching forward to flick a few switches. "What's going on over there?" he demanded through the comms, but static was all he got in response, even after making sure the channel was securely on the D-13 frequency.
Despite his efforts to stop the process, E and his Megazord quickly became fully encased by the energized column, and just as suddenly as it had appeared, the energy column had vanished, taking the Lone Megazord along with it.
"Uhh…." Words seemed to fail Kyle, looking around the cockpit at the others.
"Guess that's…one way to end it," Tyler finished his sentence for him.
"Yeah...got that right," Isaac agreed, giving a slight nod as he looked across at Tyler. "Guess you've…survived getting thrown right into the deep end."
Tyler turned to look back at Isaac, and a quiet chuckle came from beneath his visor.
"Proving my worth."
Epilogue
Division 13 Headquarters
"What the hell was that about?!"
E literally forced his way out of the enclosed suit of the Ranger suit, squeezing his way through the unfolding panels even before they had completely unfolded open.
Standing there to greet E, Clint stood at the head of several armed D-13 guards standing at attention; Clint himself had adopted a seemingly more relaxed, at ease stance. But even as he approached, demanding answers and fuming with rage-the Wolf Rangers within his reach, and once again, they were taken from him-, E couldn't help but notice that there was something…off about Clint.
He had an air of…something, not right, around him. Enough to raise E's curiosity.
"Fairweather wants to have a…word, with you," Clint responded; again, the slight pause in his words only caused E's curiosity to rise further.
"Very well. Show me where she is, and I'd better get a good reason for pulling me out of there. I had them-"
"That is precisely why you were pulled out, Agent."
The sharpness of the voice was surely enough to cut right through steel. E turned slowly to see the approaching Mrs Fairweather, flanked by a pair of armed guards. And with her voice, combined with her less than pleased look, E had a feeling this could go really bad, really fast.
"Mrs Fairweather, I-"
SLAP!
E's head turned sharply in response to the slap, his jaw tightening as he blinked a couple times. He slowly turned his head back to facing forward again, eyes returning to focus on the shorter female scientist; his cheek, stinging noticeably, definitely felt like it would have a hand-shaped mark there in the next few hours.
"You didn't tell me, that they were kids," Fairweather said, the wording and tone making it clear that it wasn't a question; it was a statement. "You had a kill order put out on teenagers."
"I prefer the term, terrorists," E responded sharply, raising one of his hands slowly to rub against the angry, red part of his cheek. "They think themselves above the law, have been responsible for countless murders, assaults and manslaughters. They are the reason why the population of their city were forced to evacuate their home."
"You've got some power in that hit, I'll give you that," he offhandedly mentioned, lowering his hand back to his side.
"There are ways to go about this instead of going the way you've gone about it!" Fairweather stressed, exasperation clear in her tone, clearly trying to keep herself from exploding into shouts. But the astonishment, or rather disgust, in her eyes spoke volumes.
Clint, as well as the present soldiers, found themselves quickly glancing between the two arguing parties. Waiting for the response that would bring the conversation to an end; to what end that'll be, was anyone's guess.
"There are different methods to go about certain things; but considering the list of crimes we've already got on them, most career-criminals that this country has locked up would know to stay away. So either they are killed, should they ever get the chance to join general lockup, or we deal with them; our way."
"But," E added, his tone switching to a more off-handed tone, "I'll consider a less…lethal approach, for your sake."
Mrs Fairweather's eyes narrowed slightly, the demeaning tone used by the Agent created a disgusted feeling in her stomach. She almost felt one of her hands close in on itself, before quickly stuffing it into one of the pockets of her lab coat. Knowing that with the surrounding soldiers, and Clint, present, she wasn't going to get very far with E here.
Instead, she glanced towards the colossal Megazord, standing in the background of the facility. "Your Megazords energy cells were extremely depleted by the time you dealt with the Samurai-armoured Demon. Your weapons wouldn't have recharged in time."
"Do we know what happened with this Demon?" E questioned, gesturing for Fairweather, as well as Clint and a few of the soldiers, to walk with him away from the Megazord and general working area of the facility.
"We can't confirm a successful defeat, though if prior events are any suggestion, he's probably retreated back to the Demon realm," Fairweather responded, her tone still a bit stiff as she slowly removed her hand from her pocket, clasping it in the palm of the other behind her back.
A low 'hmm' came from the Agent, giving a side-glance towards the head scientist walking alongside him, before turning his eyes forward again as they pushed through a set of double doors, into the more office-like part of the facilities.
"Well…he didn't destroy the Rangers, so they're still a problem on us."
The Den
"I thought I'd find you here."
Isaac looked over his shoulder slowly, partially turning his body as well to face the familiar voice.
The time between the Megazord fight ending and now seemed to pass in a blur; only in the last ten minutes had it really started to feel like time was actually passing.
"Creature of habit," was his quiet response, offering a faux smirk to Tyler.
But Tyler saw through that false smile of assurance from the Red Warrior; he had that look of regret the second they had arrived back at the Den; as soon as they had unmorphed, he had worn that look. At first, Tyler had assumed, to himself at least, that that was Isaac's neutral expression.
Though the joking thought seemed in poor taste, when he figured out why he wore that look ever since he had met Isaac.
The reason buried in front of Isaac's feet.
Tyler came up to Isaac's side, both of them looking at the disturbed ground before them; immediately, he was brought back to the first time they had really talked to one another, nearly a month ago.
Felt more like an entirely different lifetime.
"You did good today," Isaac spoke up, still facing forward while clearly speaking to the teen stood beside him. "You managed to rein in the bastard Lightning Zords, and don't take it lightly; the regular Zords were bad enough to control, but those guys…" a chuckle and smirk broke across Isaac's expression-both of which seemed genuine-as he shook his head. "Well, they were something else entirely."
"Don't I know it?" Tyler smirked, hands finding their way into his pockets as he looked up from the grave and towards Isaac.
"Hey."
Isaac turned to look across at Tyler, this time turning his entire body away from Matt's grave to face the new Blue Warrior.
"Matt may have been an asshole most of the time," Tyler started, and immediately saw one of Isaac's eyebrow raise. Most likely trying to figure out how this conversation was going to go. As such, he quickly continued, "but if you could get on his good side…Man, he had your back through shit."
"I gave him crap when he deserved it, sure, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone like him. And if he's anything like I knew him, if you got on side with him when you were Power Rangers…you'd be hard press to find someone better to have your back," Tyler commented, arms coming out to fold across his chest.
"Another thing about Matt," he continued, one hand coming out to point absentmindedly. "Stuff like this…he doesn't like hanging onto. Not throwing anything at you, just not Matt's thing."
A low exhale came from Isaac, as he took another long glance towards the ground once again. "Yep…could definitely see that being him," he eventually agreed, looking back around to Tyler with an attempted smile. "And I think I've let this hang long enough."
"We don't forget what we've lost; we honour their sacrifice."
Tyler raised an eyebrow slightly, and a small smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. "You take that shit from some video game or something?"
This brought a full laugh from Isaac, as he took a few steps towards the Den, doing a few backwards steps as he spoke to Tyler. "Something Savage tried drilling into our heads. You'd think some kind of video game, wouldn't you?"
Tyler turned fully to face Isaac again, gesturing behind the Red Warrior. "The others are waiting for us to get back; think they wanted to grab some stuff from the city," he informed.
"Messenger for the others now eh?" Isaac asked with a slight smile.
He got a shrug in response. "Never what I was originally coming out for; though figured you'd want to know, if I managed to talk you around," Tyler responded, walking forward, pausing briefly to give a friendly nudge to Isaac's shoulder before gesturing onward. "C'mon," he walked a few steps further, pausing and looking back when he saw Isaac still standing in place. He had started looking over his shoulder, towards the grave again.
"I'll get who did this," Isaac uttered under his breath, barely audible to Tyler, before he faced forward again and moved to catch up with Tyler, giving him a reassuring smile as he passed him, towards the Den.
Tyler watched him go, before taking his own moment to glance back at the grave.
"Goodbye Matt."
With those words echoing in his ear, Tyler turned back and walked after Isaac, disappearing from sight as they entered the Den.
As they vanished from view of the grave, a set of white, glowing boots slowly stepped into view, on the opposite side of the grave to where the two teens had been standing briefly.
"Bye guys."
Horror's Domain
"My Master," Batibat formally greeted, bowing briefly as she entered the main chamber of Horror's domain. Her eyes averted themselves to the ground momentarily, only to rise again as she continued along her path. She paused again, standing before the raised throne; atop which, her Master had sat himself.
Death stood at his Masters' side, dropping to bow to one knee as the shadow-cloaked Horror rose, towering over both his subordinates.
"I see you have been successful in your task, Batibat."
Even when he was giving praise, Batibat still felt a rush of cold surged up her back, forcing her body to unintentionally tighten; if possible, averting her eyes further from the trail ends of her Masters' robes.
"I do what is asked of me, my Master," she responded quietly, briefly side-glancing as she felt her Masters' presence move past her. Her eyes then rose up, narrowing on Death as he rose up and stepped forward. Eyeing up one of his hands in particular. She didn't like the way his hand seemed to draw around the, currently, bladeless handle of his sword…
"That, you do…that is what I approve of…"
She swallowed a sense of growing nerves, feeling them appear all of a sudden and almost coming through to the surface. However, the Demon quickly supressed them again, even as she felt Horror's gaze turn on her back.
"However…"
Batibat gasped aloud as she felt a searing hot sensation wrap around her throat, and all feeling through her body was sudden lost. Against her will, she found herself rising up to her feet and turning on the stop, her footwork unsteady as she was brought around to face her Master.
His eyes burned with a deep rage, despite the rest of his body language seemingly calm.
"It is the ways, in which, you go about your tasks…is what displeases me," Horror continued, slowly retracing his steps as he walked passed Batibat again, towards his throne once again. "You resurrected a fallen Hand…this action of yours is something I do not approve of."
"If I may make a suggestion as for her punishment, Master-" Death started, taking another small step forward.
"You may not."
The cold, commanding cut-off quickly silenced the Demon Warlord, who eventually took a few steps backwards in submission.
Horror turned his attention back to the gasping Batibat, and would have continued talking, had he not been interrupted.
Both Horror and Death turned sharply at the haggard breathing and staggering steps that echoed through the chambers; Batibat only getting to look when the invisible grip around her throat lessened, almost collapsing again as she breathed deeply. And when she saw the smouldering, broken armour plating, she cursed under her breath.
"My…Master…"
Masutā stumbled out of the darkness of the cavern, leaning against the wall as he recovered his shaggy breath. His entire set of torso armour was smouldering, cracks running in all directions and with large chunks across the shoulder padding and over the chest ripped away entirely. The pre-established crack through his helmet had grown further, traveling more over the top and down the back, almost enough to simply break the helmet clean in half.
He pushed off of the wall and attempted walking forward, but only barely managed to stay on his feet as he stumbled forward. The Warlord barely managed to stay on his feet long enough to reach his Master, before collapsing to his hands and knees.
His entire body heaving with effort, Masutā managed to force himself up to his knees, weakly raising his gaze to his approaching Master.
"The Pillar…the link has been….re…re-established," he strained, fighting to keep his head up as Horror came to a stop before him. Behind him, Batibat slowly manoeuvred around to stand behind her Master, now that his attention was solely focused on the kneeling Masutā before him.
She threw a glare at Death as she moved to stand alongside him. "Snivelling weasel," she hissed under her breath.
"There's always next time," Death muttered in response.
The she-Demon threw another glare at her fellow Hand, before both turned their attention back forward.
Horror slowly raised one of his bony hands, bringing to down to rest on the bowed helmet of Masutā. "You have served me loyally throughout my reign, my Hand. You assisted me in establishing furthest reaching colonies…you are deserving of a great honour."
"Yes…my Master," Masutā responded quietly, his glowing eyes focused on the ground, quickly closing them as he let out a low exhale.
A brief moment of silence filled the chambers, both Batibat and Death fearing to even breathe as they waiting in anticipation; wanting to see what would happen in the next few seconds.
And for a single moment, the demented glow of red eyes flashed under Horror's hooded face, and his hand tensed.
A groan of metal briefly strained, but was quickly overtaken by a sickening, fleshy and bony crack!
Both Batibat and Death tensed, the former of which briefly closing her eyes and giving a short, sharp inhale. And by the time she opened them up again, the helmet, now split in two, had been thrown across the chambers; one half coming to a rest before them.
The rest of Masutā's body slumped backwards, sprawling across the ground as Horror slowly stepped aside. The headless corpse of the fallen Hand began to smoulder again, catching alight with a green flame as it slowly turned to dust.
"Make no mistake," Horror threatened, approaching his throne once again, turning around to slowly re-establish his seat. "You two are in no safer spot than that corpse."
Both Batibat and Death's eyes followed the bony finger, pointing to the fiery remains. One after the other, both Hands turned back to look up to Horror, each giving a slight bow. "We understand, Master," Batibat responded, throwing a dirty side-look towards Death.
Horror brought one of his hands up, resting his unseen chin atop the partial fist, as he slowly looked between the two; first Batibat, then Death, and back to Batibat again.
"Good…then I suggest you get back to work, and find the remaining Pillars to activate. Only then, will I-"
"-You will be able to harness a rarely-tapped dark energy frequency…on a global scale that this planet is nowhere near ready for."
Horror turned slowly, while both Batibat and Death leapt forward, weapons drawn and held in a battle-ready stance; Death's now-active blade extending from the handle, highlighting some patches of his body in a sickly green.
From the very same chamber that Masutā had stumbled through moments ago, a rhythmic sound approached. A quieter step, followed by a louder, echoing clunk, grew steadily closer, eventually being accompanied by a faint outline.
As the figure approached, some details were highlighted by the still-burning remains of Masutā; the figure walked with a limp, favouring his right leg, with a small glowing circle, around eye-high, bobbing minutely with his walking difficulty.
"Quite impressive, if I may speak honestly…especially considering your…technological limitations," the shadowy figure stated, his voice slow and purposely lingering on the ending of particular words. His voice having an inorganic tone to it; like it wasn't truly his own…
"Who dares step food in the Master's sacred domain?" Batibat harshly snapped, advancing a step forward threateningly. Her fingers flexed anxiously around her daggers, eyes twitching between the intruder and her fellow Warlord standing beside her.
"Speak now, and your death shall only be mildly excruciating," Death added, taking a slower, more tactical advance.
The figure had stopped, just shy of stepping out into a completely viewable light; only highlighting some parts of his body, including how some fragments of lighting caught a long, red-lined interior coat, and even some that caught his face reflecting off…something, while strangely only illuminating other parts of his head.
A short exhale of air-almost sounding like a cross between amused and insulted-came from the shadows, as slowly, mockingly, he raised his hands up in a look of surrender, and took the finale step closer, into the light.
"I am Admiral Richter Letumors. Liberator of the M51 Galaxy, captain of the flagship, The God's Hand, and, as of this moment in time…" he paused momentarily, lowering his hands, one organic while the other only resembled a hand of metal, and moved them in front of him, carefully pressing his wrists against one another. A small, yet undeniably unsettling, smirk tugged at one corner of his lips, as his eyes-both organic and glaring red, cybernetic replacement-looked from the Warlords, to the Demon sat atop the throne.
"…your prisoner, and visitor to the Planet Earth."
DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNN!
So, yeah...I'm still alive...I think.
I can only apologize for the lack of up updates recently. This chapter just seemed never ending! But, hopefully I'll get more inspiration and, in turn, be able to get these chapters out a lot quicker than recently. Which...isn't gonna be that hard, hopefully.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this latest chapter in the story of the Wolf Pack. Until next time!
-Nf991