Curse of the Power Rangers (IV)

"Do you reckon this'll be enough to get the White House and the Senate off our backs?" the driver of Clint's truck questioned, casting a brief look across to one of E's most trusted. Though he didn't get a confirmation from Clint that he had his attention-his full attention was given to the laptop screen in his lap-he had to assume he had some, after Clint's fingers briefly paused before continuing their rapping tapping. "Or do you think it's too little, too late?"

Clint remained silent for the following seconds, eyes closely monitoring the multiple trackers across the screen. A clustered of numbered blips surrounded the flashing yellow and black dots, several others more widespread in patrols. The blue and white dots were on the move, heading towards the hive of activity. The red dot was…oddly inactive, but he'd sent a recon team to the area to assess the situation.

As he waited for the page to refresh, Clint leaned back into the seat with a low exhale. "E might be able to justify all this to the White House and the Senate, but by the skin of this organizations' teeth. Though we might have other people to worry about at some point…"

The driver gave another glance to Clint, his eyebrow cocked slightly. "What d'ya mean?"

"Apparently the UN's starting to ask questions."

"…Shit…"

"Which is what we'll be standing in if we don't get this sorted today," Clint responded, giving a few keyboard taps as the latest tracking locations came up. "Though we're part of the way there now, I don't want to say anything before we've got them all under…"

"Under control?" the driver finished. He glanced across at Clint again, the third time in as many minutes, to find his attention once more focused entirely on the screen. Only now, his face bore a look of suspicion. "What's happened?"

"Unit 93, your tracker's not responding. Report in."

\/\/\/

"Unit 93, report. What's going on?"

The radio lay face-up in a shallow puddle, going unanswered by the motionless body lying beside it. The body, lying face-down, was in its own puddle: only one of blood, rather than water.

Across the alley, another soldier slowly rolled his head around his shoulders to the sound of the radio. One of his eyes had swollen shut, and blood was streaming out of his nose. With a strained breath, he managed to force himself to roll over onto his side, leaving a bloody outline of his body in his wake; though more blood spilled in front of him, mixing with the dirty water and other bodies of liquids that plagued the alley.

But before he could even begin a desperate crawl to the radio, a firm boot to the back of the head pummelled him into the ground, blood spewing from his now-broken nose. With a muffled shout of pain, his hands tried to come up to try and contain the blood. But when he opened his eyes to assess the damage, he was instead met with a blue-and-silver boot to the face.

"Really?"

Tyler turned back to look to Natalie. "What?"

"Did you have to do it like that?"

"I panicked! He could've got that radio!"

"He was at least ten feet from it…"

"We can discuss specifics after we get Tanya and Kyle," Tyler stated, gesturing down the alley. "They've got to be close now. C'mon."

Tyler quickly turned and went to jog down the alley; but pausing when his foot knocked the radio, with that voice still trying to get the attention of the two soldiers. With only a moments' hesitation, he brought his boot down on the device, again and again. Each impact damaged the radio further, the final blow leaving wires exposed, plastic covering cracked and lying in the puddle. The electrics fizzled in the water, quickly shorting out and silencing the calls for response.

As he quickly scurried out of sight and up the nearest emergency staircase, Natalie hesitated a moment to follow immediately. Her eyes lingered on the bodies that lay motionless beside her, her HUD feeding her readings of their vitals. The one lying face down in the puddle was a lost cause, his heart rate reading stone cold and flat. The other…

She crouched down beside the body, slipping her first and middle finger in to press against the side of his neck as best she could.

\/\/\/

"Let's see if the camera feeds' working…"

Clint tapped the keyboard, moving the mousepad over the non-responsive unit and double-clicked.

For the first few seconds, static was all that filled his screen. And even when the screen flashed and tuned in, his screen was still grainy.

"Fucking…" Clint cursed under his breath, tapping his keyboard again. "Cheap-ass cameras…what piss-poor country did we import these from?"

"I think they were brought in from Chicago."

"…That'll explain it. Alright, here we go."

The live-feed gradually came through the static, though the screen appeared so dark that it took Clint a few moments to realize the feed had actually started working.

"What the hell…?"

The cameras' view was suddenly jostled, like the soldier was running or…

Clint looked closer, and realized that the soldier was moving; only, he wasn't the one moving. He saw a hand reach across the camera and grab the soldiers' arm, and shortly after a pair of boots came into view. Immediately, Clint realized who it was.

And he got conformation when the White Ranger knelt down beside the soldier, right in view of the hidden body camera, which had rotated to be on its side. Like the soldier had fallen onto his side, or…Clint had to look closer. He was either seeing things, or the Ranger had put the soldier into the recovery position.

"Nothing personal…"

The voice modifier in the helmet almost made the words get lost over the comms, but he just managed to catch it. Without another word, the Ranger got back to her feet-straight up looking like she was standing on the wall-and ran out of frame.

Clint sat there, silently watching the footage for a few seconds after the White Ranger went out of sight, fingers hovering over the keys. He stared into the screen, half-expecting one of the Rangers to appear out of nowhere and finish the poor soul off.

"Nothing personal…"

He tapped the 'K' key, cutting off the footage. "Just doing my job."

Clint tapped his ear piece, switching to the right frequency. "Baski, you got Rangers coming your way. Get the sound cannons recalibrated and prepare your men."

"On it, sir."

\/\/\/

Tyler brought a finger to his helmets' mouth guard, looking over his shoulder to make sure Natalie was keeping as low a profile as he was. The pair of them crept across the rooftop, eventually pressing themselves against the raised edge. Sliding a hand each up to the edge, the two shared a quick look before lifting their heads to get a cautious look at the situation.

"Holy shit…" Natalie whispered.

A number of white sheets were strewn across the ground; some on the sidewalks, others lying across the middle of the street. All of them, however, were anything but flat; they were all covering something.

"Well…seems we're a bit late to the party," Tyler uttered quietly, as he and Natalie watched a pair of medics approach one of the white sheets, setting down the stretcher and black body bag they had brought with them. One reached for the sheet, and pulled it back to reveal what once may have been a soldier.

"Where are they?" Natalie threw the question out, tearing her eyes off of the bloody remains and tried to pick out their fellow Warriors. Even with Kyle's black armour blending in with the armour these soldiers wore, Natalie would have expected Tanya's yellow to stand out like a sore thumb. But she wasn't seeing any yellow Warrior. "Do you see them anywhere?"

"Ain't that them being dragged to the truck?" Tyler pointed to the opposite side of the street.

Natalie quickly followed Tyler's pointing finger, and had to be pulled back after she almost raised her head too far.

The pair were in a bloodied state, de-morphed and practically dragged across the ground towards the open door to the truck. Both were putting up some sort of resistance, digging their heels in, but the armed soldiers quickly suppressed any struggling. Natalie wincing at a particularly nasty looking rifle butt to Kyle's side that forced him to his knees.

"Get up," one of the soldiers ordered, hooking a hand under Kyle's arm and trying to bring him back to his feet. But Kyle couldn't-or wouldn't, more likely-get his feet beneath him, and this just infuriated the soldier all the more.

He drew his pistol, and pressed the muzzle into Kyle's back. "Up!" he repeated, twisting the pistol against the Black Rangers' back. This brought a grunt of discomfort out of Kyle, as he was reluctantly forced back onto his feet with a noticeable arch to his stance from the soldier continuing to drive the pistol in to force him forward.

"We gotta get down there," Tyler stated, hand slipping over the edge to get a better grip. But before he could throw himself over the edge of a building for a second time that day, he felt a hand move to his shoulder and hold him back.

"Hang on, let's take a bit of time to assess the situation," Natalie insisted, dragging Tyler back and the pair sat back against the wall. She tapped the side of her Howler, bringing her HUD up across her visor and flicked through the filters.

"I picked out about twenty guys down there, and another ten of 'em are already gone," she flicked the looping footage across to Tyler, both seeing the soldiers, highlighted a dark brown, who stood out against the brightly-lit background filter.

"And they got those bullets that can go through our suits," Tyler added, glancing down his own blue-armoured body and inadvertently sparing a look at the off-white armour worn by Natalie.

"Exactly," Natalie confirmed, bringing her HUD back under control to restore her vision of the world beyond her suit. Yet even with the added layer of protection, Natalie felt…off.

Though she highly suspected that to be a result of knowingly being around such a large quantity of weapons that could cause some serious damage.

"Alright, we loop around, get either side of the group and rush 'em. We'll get them before they even know we're here," she quickly ran down her plan, shifting her crouching stance to better get up quickly.

"Gotcha," Tyler gave an affirmative nod, shifting from the wall to a crouch similar to Natalie's. He slowly rose, adding, "Let's g-!"

PHEW!

The shot came out of nowhere, missing Tyler's chest and vital organs by mere inches. Instead, the shot struck him square in the left shoulder, tearing through the flesh and bone as if it were nothing and passing through the other side. The force of the shot sent Tyler spinning, slamming into the ground; his blood spewing from the impact, leaving a splatter-pattern diagonally across Natalie's helmet.

"Tyler!" she shouted, quickly diving across to Tyler's now lying form. She fell to her knees beside his body, grabbing his shoulders and hauled him onto his back. Behind her helmet, Natalie's face grew pale at the bloodied imprint he had already left behind. She was getting flashbacks to when she saw Matt in a similar state…

"Nat…snipers…" the Blue Warrior groaned, trying to wave in the direction he was shot-though Nat knowing he was way off-but his hand fell limp to the ground, giving a few involuntary twitches. The bullet must have caught a nerve as it tore through his shoulder.

"Yeah, kinda forgot to check the other rooftops," Natalie uttered under her breath, being careful yet quick as she slipped out from beneath Tyler's bloodied body, sitting on one knee beside him. She brought her Howler up, finding it too was smeared with blood, and rapidly tried every button again.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…"

\/\/\/

"West building! Roof top! Roof top!"

The soldiers on the ground, who had instinctively ducked when the sound of sniper fire rang out above them, all looked to the identified building from the radio. All at once, they rushed to the building, piling through the door and systematically working their way up the floors; clearing each before proceeding up to the rest.

Baski watched from across the street as his men funnelled into the building. He glanced across to the three men that stayed behind to keep Tanya and Kyle in place. "Call in another truck," he ordered, sparing a look to the two detained Rangers with a slight smirk. "I don't think we're done just yet…"

Tanya and Kyle shared a look between themselves, before they were stuffed into the back of the truck and slammed the reinforced door on them.

\/\/\/

Natalie was pretty much slapping the Howler at this point, head quickly looking between Tyler's writhing form and the sound of soldiers beneath them growing closer. "Come on…" she urged the device, bringing it back up again. "MUTT! Savage! Isaac!"

With each desperate call, the steps grew closer and louder. Natalie knew it wouldn't be much longer before they reached the maintenance doorway. And with the Howler still only producing static in response to her calls for help, she knew her options were rapidly dwindling.

As her eyes lingered on the metal door, however, an idea started to piece itself together.

"Stay here, I've got an idea."

She carefully set Tyler up against the rooftop's raised edge, the blood now seeping down both his front and back. The deep blue and silver armour becoming stained with a deadly crimson.

"W…What kind of i…idea?" Tyler groaned, as Nat got up again and crept towards the door; kneeling beside the frame, on the side of the hinges.

"Probably a bad one."

"That's-ah!"

Tyler's hand went to clutch his wounded shoulder, moving the wrong way too many times. "That's…reassuring."

Despite the growing direness of the situation, Natalie couldn't keep a small smile from breaking across her face. "Isn't it just?" she asked rhetorically, before falling silent as the stomping steps grew even closer. They couldn't have been more than a few flights of stairs below.

The seconds drew on, and Natalie held her breath. She hoped this worked…

\/\/\/

The lead soldier raised his hand in a closed fist, signalling the men behind him to stop.

"Sir, we're on the service staircase now," he informed the radio attached to his vest, slotting it back into place as he carefully got his men into the right position. This breach needed to be quick and decisive; there couldn't be a moments' hesitation.

"Copy. Snipers, got eyes on the door?" Baski asked, looking to the building directly opposite the Rangers'.

"Can't get complete clear visual, lip is too high," the voice came over the comms responded, though it wasn't the reply Baski had been entirely hoping for.

Gritting his teeth for a moment, Baski gave a sharp exhale and switched channels back to the breach team. "Be advised, we haven't got clear eyes on. Tread carefully."

"Copy that," the lead soldier replied, before looking over his shoulder and gesturing for a soldier to come up. The soldier crept up the steps, full body riot shield in hand and got into position in front of the door. The lead soldier moved in the other side, carefully resting his hand atop the handle and brought his other hand up for the group behind him to see.

Three fingers.

His hand tightened around the handle.

One finger fell.

The soldier's readied their rifles, half-raised in anticipation.

Two fingers fell.

The soldier armed with the riot shield took a few deep breaths; whatever state the Rangers were in on the other side of this door, he was going to be the first one to deal with it.

Finally, a closed fist replaced the hand.

The door flew open, and the soldiers started rushing forward. The riot shield-armed soldier barged through, aiming to do a quick sweep of the area directly in front to try and assess the situation.

Though he didn't get that far.

Because the moment the door swung open, and he had barely taken a step out onto the roof, the door swung back in on them; with far too much force for it to be reverse momentum carrying it back. The metal door smashed directly into the riot shield, sending the soldier holding it stumbling backwards into the soldiers attempting to pile out after him.

He would have recovered and got back to his feet quickly, attempting to continue the operation.

Had the door not come flying towards them.

Torn completely from its hinges, the door came at them and the soldiers were thrown the stairs; collapsing on top of one of another, the unfortunate ones at the back desperately trying to escape the crushing weight. Not everyone was so lucky; one unfortunate soldier shouting out in agony as several of his comrades were thrown onto him, with full combat gear and the weight of the metal door on top of that.

With only the riot shield soldier and the door on top of him, the lead soldier was more fortunate. He tried pushing the door off of him, but a shout from his side made him stop; the side of the door was caught on the riot shield, which was firmly fastened to the soldiers' arm. He only managed to get it partially off him, enough that he could see the now door-less frame.

In its place, stood the White Wolf Ranger.

The soldier froze and the two stared in silence. Time seemed to slow down, as the soldier kept what he thought was eye contact with the enemy; his perspective making the White Ranger seem taller than he had seen her in recon pictures.

Seconds passed agonizingly slow, but the soldier finally torn his eyes away from the reflective visor to reach for his handgun. After frantically trying to remove the safety latch of his holster, he pulled the weapon free and aimed it at-

He took in a sharp breath when he aimed the gun, and…nothing was there. The Ranger had vanished. He held his hold for a few seconds longer, before his other hand fumbled for his radio.

"This is unit leader to Corporal Baski! We've lost visual on the Rangers!" he practically shouted, he and the other soldier finally managed to push the door aside and over the railing-sending it hurtling towards the lower floors-and get to his feet, rushing to the door and staggered out.

"That's because they've down here!"

Natalie rushed up to, and swept the legs out from under, a remaining soldier, the momentum letting her spin on the spot and landed a forceful kick square to the chest. Seeing him get sent flying back into the nearest building, she whipped around to face the two remaining soldiers.

"This bitch…" Baski cursed under his breath, rifle drawn and trained on the White Ranger. He spared a quick glance to the single soldier standing alongside him, the only other assistance he had at the minute.

If he had to put a face to the phrase 'shitting yourself', this soldier was wearing it.

The White Ranger slowly approached, hands open and at her sides.

"I don't want this to end in a bloodbath," the modified voice came from the Ranger, coming to a stop when Baski and his soldier brought their rifles up against the shoulders more noticeably.

"Only blood that's gonna spill here is yours if you take one more damn step!" the soldier shouted, taking a threatening step forward, his rifle trained directly on the Rangers' forehead.

He would have taken a second step when the White Ranger refused to back up, but Baski grabbed him by the back of his combat vest and dragged him back into place.

"Another outburst like that, Knight, and it'll be your brains all over floor," Baski threatened, gesturing for him to stay put as he took a step closer; though unlike the hostility shown by his underling, Baski carefully lowered his gun barrel, his trigger hand slowly lifting away from the grip.

"It ain't as simple as that, kid."

Natalie's jaw tightened at the degrading comment; after all she and the others had been through, being talked down to like that wasn't appreciated. But giving a hostile response would only make an already tense situation worse, she let out a slow breath and tried to relax herself.

"We're not saints; I'm not trying to convince anyone otherwise."

"Would've been a waste of time anyway," Baski commented. He was sure he got a dirty look for the interruption, but the helmet concealed any facial reaction from the Ranger.

"But there is something out there; something far, far worse than any of us could be. And we're the only ones who even have a chance at standing up to it," Natalie continued, daring to take another step closer while half-keeping an eye on the soldier standing guard of the truck she knew Tanya and Kyle were being held.

"We can't do that on all sides."

Baski remained silent for the few seconds following the White Rangers' words, casually resting his former trigger hand over the stock of his rifle-the rifle strap slung over his shoulder. The two stood in relative silence for what seemed like the longest time; only broken intermittently by radio chatter trying to cut through, and the distant sound of shouts coming from the building behind Natalie.

"Well, I guess you've got one thing right…"

Natalie took a sharp breath when the comment finally came, giving a weary look around-the soldiers were still trying to figure out the mess she left them in the building, and Tyler was still slumped against the side of the building; she couldn't do any better in the situation, she barely managed to get the two of them off the roof.

"And what's that then?" she questioned.

PHEW! PHEW!

The words had barely left her mouth when the shots rang out.

Natalie collapsed to her knees, clutching her stomach as she bowed over, gasping for breath. Blood spilled out onto the street, escaping through the suit from a pair of fresh gunshot wounds through her back and stomach.

Before she even had a chance to realize what had happened, a blunt force drove itself into her back, forcing her to the ground while sweeping her arms out and pinned her to the ground. Natalie was still in too much of a state of shock to fight back, so was unable to stop her hands being handcuffed and Baski from forcefully demorphing her.

"That you can't fight on all sides," Baski replied, almost mockingly so, as he grabbed Natalie by the bound-arms and lifted her up from the ground; half-dragging her across the street, a stream of blood trailing back to the large puddle where she fell.

"This is Baski. Putting in medic request for my position; gonna be hard to explain to the higher ups how we let a couple of teens bleed out," Baski said into his radio, gesturing for the other soldier to Tyler's position as he sat Natalie down against the truck.

The last thing she recalled was the group of soldiers finally making their way out of the building, grabbing Tyler's limp form on the way and approaching the truck. Then her eyes drifted down, seeing her top a bloodied mess, her stomach the epicentre of the nightmare-like imagery.

Then…darkness.

Baski looked to the now-unconscious Natalie, and gestured to her. "Got another truck inbound, grab her and throw her in with Blue here."

He switches his radios' channel, and brought it up. "Sir, Corporal Baski reporting in. We've got the four of the Wolf Pack. All we're missing is Red."

"Copy, Corporal. Bring 'em back to base ASAP."

"Copy that."

Clint lowered his hand slowly, bringing it down to the keyboard and tapping a few keys.

"E, we got all of them except Red."

"You got him tracked?"

"Yep, he's…staying in position."

"Send the coordinates my way; I'll take him."

"Want me to tell the recon troops to move-?"

"No!"

Clint physically recoiled at the shout, enough to temporarily draw the attention of his driver. Sparing a quick look, Clint gathered himself and readjusted the earpiece. "No…sir?"

"He's mine. I'll call in containment when I've got him…Or medevac. Depends on how hard he fights back. Call them off, now."

"Understood. Coordinates coming your way," Clint replied, briskly bringing the call to an end.

\/\/\/

He couldn't move. He could barely breathe. The horrible realization of what was before him had him firmly rooted to the spot.

It couldn't be true…it just couldn't…

"What did they do to you?"

Isaac had to really force himself to speak, his throat having quickly grown dry.

The shadows shifted as his words broke the silence, a possessed chatter coming from their depths and sending out a wave of chilling dread all around. And Isaac was there to take the brunt, judging by how cold he had grown since the thought had come…

A shiver shot down his back, ending with a sharp shake of his head. He didn't want to think it possible.

More movement from the shadows caught his attention, bringing it away from the disturbing thoughts and forcing him to face the source of it all.

The Wolkeins' hunched form sulked from the shadow, slowly becoming more and more visible in the limited light available. Isaac tried to shift, disturbing the rubble that partially buried him further, but only managed to get a few inches before a jolt up pain stopped him in his tracks. Leaving him unable to move as sh-as the Wolkein came into better view.

Its hunched form inched closer, stepping through the doorway and out into the hallway. The light streaming through the deteriorating walls catching its gangly limbs, only now the way it walked looked far less chaotic; as though the effort of trying to walk a steady pace and direction was forcing it to move much slower than before.

As it made its way down the hall towards the top of the stairs, Isaac's eyes darted around to something, anything, that wasn't on the reality of what was in front of him.

"You're not her…You can't be her…" He repeated under his breath, giving a few shakes of his head as his breathing grew shaky and uneven. His gaze was gradually pushed down further, until he was looking directly at the drywall and ceiling segments that were littered atop him. But even with his gaze not on the Wolkein at all, he could still feel it draw closer. In the end, he resorted to squeezing his eyes shut, his breathing becoming near hyperventilating.

"You're not my…you're not…yo...you're…"

Behind the relative darkness of his eyelids, Isaac was left alone with his thoughts; a dangerous place to be, after everything he and the others had been through these past months. But he would rather go through all of it again, all at once, instead of the impending doom.

Memories flashed before him; his first day of secondary school and the churning anxiety that accompanied it slowly melting away, a time where he was far younger and unwrapping a small present in his living room. Another time when he was younger still, walking his bike him, a slight limp to his step curtesy of a bloody mark spreading across his knee. The bikes' front wheel crooked, far beyond salvaging.

"You're not…"

The memories started to become clearer, especially the older ones, and grew longer.

He was approaching the massive over scaled school building, the daunting task of what lay ahead stopping him halfway up the flight of stairs. The anxiety and underlying fear that racked his twelve-year old brain nearly made him physically ill, but he managed to slowly turn partway and look back the way he came. He spotted a blurred figure out of the corner of his eye, and almost immediately, those fears grew quieter.

The joy that fuelled him tearing off the wrapping paper, his eyes widening and a smile breaking across his face when he realized he had gotten the very thing he had been asking for months on end leading up to his tenth birthday.

The mild pain that grew with every limp closer to home, rubbing the scuff mark on his chin as he drew out opening the back door to his house, leaving the bike with its ruined wheel in the back garden.

"…Not….my…"

A smile was shared between all these memories.

One of reassurance when his nerves almost got the better of him. One of joy when he lit up with excitement and dove in for a hug. And another of comfort when he came staggering into the house, knee all bloodied after a bike stunt gone wrong.

The last memory bleed into another, brief moment further along. His knee was clean, a plaster now applied to his knee.

A delicate, comforting hand gently came up to hold his cheek, the thumb carefully rubbing against his face. He offered a small smile in return.

"Thanks…"

The blur in his memories started to come into focus, the memories starting to flow together with glimpses of what he had just seen starting to bleed in.

Blur, blur, blur, Wolkein. Blur, blur, Wolkein, blur. Blur, Wo-blur, blur.

The feeling of a gentle hand against his cheek returned, only this time, Isaac was sure he could feel it now.

A shake breathe out escaped before he had a chance to stop it, accompanying the single tear that streamed down his cheek. Slowly, he opened his eyes, a pair of tears tracking down his cheeks now, and slowly brought his head up again.

"Mum…"

She was there to give him that little bit of confidence that school wasn't anything to be fearful of.

She was there to wrap him up in a hug and smile at his excitement, the pair rolling around the bed.

She was there to patch him up and give him her smile of comfort.

And now, she was trying to give him comfort, even if she didn't look anything like how she did in his other memories. That same feeling was still there, even if his mother wasn't entirely.

The uber-Wolkein gave a slight tilt of its head, the faintest of croons sounding from its toothy jaw; no longer threatening, but still sounding very much in pain. Before, Isaac would have assumed it to be the pain of whatever had happened to make it this way.

Now, a mother seeing her child in pain.

But Isaac saw this in another light.

"I did this…"

He blinked a few times, fresh tears tracing down the trails left by ones already gone, and tried to keep his breathing level. But his breaths were still shaky, and his head ducked down again.

The Wolkeins' thumb-or what was imitating one at least-rubbed against his cheek, and a faint rumble echoed through the creatures' body. It may have been the state he was in right now, or the conditions of the building they were in-their home-, but Isaac was sure the Wolkei…

He took in a sharp breath, jaw tightening as he swallowed a difficult lump in his throat.

…He was sure she was trying to say…

'Son.'

His eyes screwed shut, briefly opening up again when he felt a weight press against his forehead. And just as quick, he closed his eyes once more when he found the Wolkeins' cold forehead was pressed against his own. The coolness was oddly comforting.

A silence fell over the house, the once-mother and son having a moment on reconciliation after so long apart, and both almost going through hell and back.

The moment, however, was soon shattered with a flash of light seeping through the dimmed windows.

"I know you're in there, Isaac!"

Both Ranger and Wolkein flinched and looked down the stairs, which lead to the front door and out to the street. A gravely snarl came from the uber-Wolkein, looking ready to stalk down the steps and charge directly at the threat; more so at the mention of the name that, while alluding the simpler mind, had a deeper effect on the subconscious.

But a hand reached out and grabbed its forearm, briefly anchoring it in place.

The uber-Wolkeins' primitive mind almost drove it to slaughter the attacker, but the small remnant of the person it once was kicked in when Isaac's face came into view.

"Come out and face what's coming to you!"

"I'll handle him," Isaac whispered, giving a slight squeeze to her pale forearm, while simultaneously trying to clear the debris at long last. "You need to get out of here."

A small, disgruntled noise came from the Wolkein, giving a vigorous shake of its head; the faintest dribble of hanging saliva flying loose.

"Please," Isaac practically begged, letting go of the Wolkeins' forearm to help get his legs beneath him, scattering the remaining pieces of wall shrapnel. "You need to get out of here; there's got to be a way to change you back from….this. I need my mum back."

The creature watched Isaac closely, the pair eye-level; complete opposite, yet connected. For a moment, it seemed to comply and slowly pulled away.

But suddenly pulled one of its hands back in, a clawed finger slowly extending towards Isaac. He almost flinched, but held fast and stilled himself, even as the clawed tip drew closer to his face. Though he barely felt any sort of touch; the claw like a feather against his skin, delicately pulling a tear that nearly fell down his cheek.

Another quiet, 'Son'-sounding rumble came from the now-Wolkein, as it slowly backed away and eventually turned into the shadow-y shrouds. For the few moments that came after, Isaac briefly wanted to follow. But more immediate, pressing matters were waiting for him outside his home. So with a deep intake of breath, he pushed himself to his unsteady feet and slowly made his way down the steps, using the banister for support.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he stood before the door and took a moment to peer through the eye hole to get complete conformation as to who was standing on the other side.

The silver stood out like a sore thumb against the grey buildings opposite.

"Either you come out or I drag you out!"

He gave a final look back up the silent staircase, not knowing where the Wolkein that may have once been his mother was, but Isaac knew it had to be somewhere safer than here. With a calming breath, Isaac turned the handle and pushed open the door.

"Well, what do you know?" E mocked, standing on the opposite sidewalk to where Isaac now stood. The door snapped shut behind the helmetless Red Ranger, leaving him to face the Silver D-13 Ranger with nowhere to go. "You actually grew a pair."

Isaac remained silent, his glare more than visible without his helmet to conceal his face. He remained firmly rooted in place.

"What's wrong Isaac? Where's that fight of yours gone?" E jeered, taking the first step to cross the street towards the Red Ranger.

The latest name drop sent a small twitch through Isaac, finding an outlet in the form of his jaw tightening. A subtle reflex, if E didn't have the suits' scanning systems.

"Yeah, that's right. We've finally got a name to put to that face of yours. Your British government wouldn't play ball for the longest time, but they eventually came to their senses," E went on, each and every step being accompanied by a faint whirl of the suits' mechanisms. "Maybe they just wanted to distance themselves from a home grown terrorist."

E's arms gave a slight twist, igniting the suits' forearm blades.

"Now, we gonna do this the easy way?" E brought his arms up, crossing the energy blades and electing a few sparks as the blades touched. "Or are you going to make things difficult?"

Once again, Isaac remained silent, jaw tightened to keep anymore giveaways from slipping through. Only this time, he mirrored E's step forward, stepping down onto the street and staring E down.

"Difficult, eh?" E questioned, slowly drawing the blades down one another. He gave a slight head tilt, but finished with a shoulder shrug. "I can work with that."

He slowly shifted into a fighting stance, one step forward and both blades pointed directly at Isaac. His hands clenched into fists, shifting his back foot to give a better base to push off from.

Isaac, strangely, remained oddly still, hands remaining by his sides and jaw drawn tightly to keep his expression neutral.

The standoff lasted for less than a minute, neither willing to be the first to move and ignite the fight. Until, one of Isaac's hands came forward.

E tensed up, twisting the blades. Visualizing how the Red Ranger would come at him, and how he would counter; thinking he had every sort of possible outcome of the next few seconds figured out.

What he didn't count on, however, was Isaac reaching for his Howler, and demorphed in a flash of light. Restored to his civilian clothes, Isaac was forced to one knee now that he didn't the suit supporting him; his shirt a bloodied mess from multiple cuts beneath, and jeans torn in numerous places.

"I'll come quietly."

E briefly lowered his arms, stunned that this was the direction it was going. Every encounter previous to this, with all the Rangers, not once did they ever go the more…peaceful route. A flick of his wrists sent the energy blades back into the suit, and he slowly approached with an air of caution; the very real possibility that this was all some kind of trick was still present in his mind.

But this was no trick; Isaac remained in place, both hands held at his sides, eyes ever watchful of E's approaching steps, and eventual stop a few feet away from him.

"Really?" E questioned, giving another slight tilt of the head as he looked Isaac up and down; the HUD picking up several small injures and bodily readings. His hands slowly closed up into fists.

"Shame."

Isaac blinked.

The punch catching him completely off guard.

His world went dark, barely registering him hitting the ground as slipped in and out of consciousness. He tasted a familiar coppery taste, a faint throbbing pain coming from the back of his head. Out of the corner of his view, he spotted an unfocused silver blur.

"…Looks like….bringing them…in…"

He caught the sun in the blur's visor, and next thing he knew, a blunt force struck him in the head, and his world was eclipsed in darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED...