Chapter Seven
Becoming the Red Ranger
About a week later, Joshua followed General Kenpachi down a long hallway inside a secret section of the underground base. By his side walked his friends, Katie and Dayton, alongside Doug Cummins and Harriet Nixon, the two youngest recruits of his old squad. After the meeting with the generals, General Kenpachi had instructed Joshua that, as a ranger, he was allowed to select up to four to be a part of his support team.
Joshua looked around at his support team. All four were looking around in amazement at this entire section of the base that they had previously believed to be no more than a broom closet. Even Katie had let her normally stoic facade slip a little. Katie had been his first pick. Throughout the six months he had served at the base, she had always proven herself dependable and trustworthy. Dayton had been a little iffy, but Joshua had still always been able to count on him. The cadets behind him, however, he chose for their still youthful and passionate approach to their service.
General Kenpachi stopped before a heavy security door just like the one that had led into James's old lab. He turned to face everyone. "Welcome to the Ranger Project," he said. Everything you are about to see behind this door, I must stress that you treat with absolute secrecy. Do you all understand?"
"We got it, General," Dayton said with an exaggerated salute.
Cadets Doug and Harriet nodded excitedly, also saluting.
"Yes, sir," Katie said.
Joshua nodded, looking around at them all. "We're ready to go in, General."
"Good," the general said. He tapped his badge to the door's surface and its heavy security mechanism clicked into place. He pulled the door open, and Joshua and his support team stepped inside.
The laboratory appeared much like James's old lab, a large central room lined with high-tech computers. Scientists walked back and forth, working at the computers, but stopping to salute as the general walked in. On a table in the center, sat an almost-finished Ranger Suit, bright red in color, exactly as Joshua remembered it. He felt the same pull toward it. A second suit sat on a table beside it. The makeshift suit that James had built that he had worn to escape from the Black Cross.
"Whoa," Cadet Doug said, his eyes wide. He and Harriet went up to the suits and stared at them. They looked up at Joshua. "These are them?" he asked.
That morning, after Joshua had received confirmation that they'd all passed evaluation, he'd pulled the four of them aside and explained about the project, including about his escape from the Black Cross. The cadets were now both looking at the makeshift suit with a sense of reverence.
Joshua nodded. "That's them," he said.
"Yes they are."
A younger scientist with curly black hair and a lopsided smile stepped up to the table. Joshua immediately recognized him as Anthony Starr, the scientist that James had frequently eaten his lunch with.
He nodded at Joshua. "Welcome back, Captain," he said. "I'm glad to see James's request went through after all. Welcome to the Ranger Project."
"Doctor Starr here is one of the last remaining members of the original team," General Kenpachi explained, introducing him to the rest of Joshua's team. "He's been helping take the lead ever since the attack."
"You can just call me Anthony if you want," the scientist said. "I had been on shore leave visiting my mom in the states when the attack happened. Completely missed the whole affair. Came back only to find that our old base had been destroyed and most of my friends were dead. So that was . . . nice."
He looked away for a moment, his dark brown eyes full of sadness. He looked back at Joshua and his team. "Sorry about your brother, by the way," he said, scratching his head awkwardly.
Anthony looked over the four members of Joshua's support team. Dayton, Doug, and Harriet were currently messing with the birdies attached to the suits' belts. "I assume this is your support team then?"
Joshua nodded. "That's them. These are Dayton Owens, Doug Cummins, and Harriet Nixon." All three saluted quickly at their names, stepping back from the birdies. Joshua gestured to Katie, who was still standing dutifully at his side, although he noticed she had been watching the birdies curiously as well. "And this is Katie Young, my right-hand."
Anthony nodded. "Nice to meet you all." He looked at General Kenpachi. "Want me to take the lead from here?"
General Kenpachi nodded. "The table's all yours."
"Alright," Anthony said. "Well, I assume you all know at least a little about what we're doing here. Our goal is to make a series of super-suits in order to fight the Black Cross. This is our first prototype."
He launched into an explanation of the suit and everything built into it, pulling up blueprints on a nearby console to show them how it all worked. All things that Joshua had already learned so far.
"The harness uses a hydraulic limbic system, right?" Dayton aked.
Joshua looked at him in surprise.
"That's correct," Anthony said, looking at him curiously. "How did you know that?"
Dayton shrugged. "Used to be a mechanic back before the war," he said. "I always kept up on the latest technology. This is a bit more advanced than anything I've seen, but the connectors are all in the right place."
Joshua glanced at Katie. She looked about as stunned as he did.
After explaining about the suit, Anthony and General Kenpachi led the group down a short corridor off to one side and through another security door. Inside was an enormous gymnasium and workout area, full of every kind of training equipment Joshua could imagine. "This will be your training area, Captain Cage," Anthony explained. "Although the suit will do a lot of the work for you, being a ranger will be extremely taxing on your body and you will need to be in the best shape possible."
Joshua stared around the room. It was far larger than any gym he had ever seen, and the equipment was far more heavy-duty than anything he'd ever worked with. "What kind of workout routine are we talking about here?" he asked.
General Kenpachi cleared his throat. He pulled a sheet from one of his files and handed it to Joshua."This is the recommended daily routine."
Joshua's eyes went wide. Dayton glanced at it over his shoulder. "Oh, dang," he said.
From that day forward, Joshua began his training regimen. It was far more taxing than anything he had ever experienced in his years as a soldier, harder than anything he'd done while at boot camp. For the first few days, he could barely get through half of it before collapsing. He had to be constantly monitored by a team of doctors, and after each workout, he was put through a specially designed therapy routine developed specifically for the program.
His support team helped out wherever they could. Katie ran alongside him for most of his laps, while Dayton worked with him on his strength training. Doug and Harriet kept him constantly supplied with snacks and drinks. All the while, Anthony and his team kept working on the suit, using the makeshift suit to finish it. Here and there, they would request that Joshua wear one of the suit's components during his workout to make sure it was working right. The day was always easier when he did so.
At long last, he was ready. Working hard every day, he finally reached the point he needed to be at. He could run longer and work harder without even breaking a sweat. General Kenpachi had him start running his workout routines while wearing the various pieces of the suit as they were finished, so he could get used to them.
One day, he was called into the main lab and away from his workout.
"Put this on," Anthony said, holding up the newly finished helmet.
Joshua did so, slipping the helmet down over his head, much easier than he'd been able to with the makeshift helmet. A small clasp had been added to the side to open it up a little, and the inside had a lot more padding. Anthony's voice sounded from a tiny earpiece inside the helmet. "Do you hear me, Captain?" he asked.
Joshua nodded. "Yeah, I do."
"Good. I'm going to start running diagnostics across the visor. Tell me if it all looks okay."
Joshua sat there for twenty minutes, letting Anthony work. Once he was satisfied, his team started hooking up other pieces of the suit onto Joshua's body and connecting them to the helmet to make sure they worked well together.
"Suiting up kinda takes a while, doesn't it?" Joshua said, thinking it might not be very practical.
Anthony smirked. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "We've got a plan for that."
He finished attaching the piece he was working on and stepped over to a nearby table, picking up a small rectangular object and showing it to Joshua. "This is what we call a morpher," he said. "The suit was constructed using nanotechnology. This will control them. The nanites will be contained in here when not in use, and you can activate them with this middle button. We last clocked their suit-up time at about two seconds."
He handed the morpher over to Joshua for him to see. It seemed to feel both light and heavy in his hand. He wasn't sure he understood the science behind it all. He'd just have to take Starr's word for it. "Nice," he said, handing it back to Anthony.
The team worked for a couple more days, Joshua pushing himself to his limits to make sure he was in the best shape possible, harder than the doctors were recommending.
"Hey," Katie said, after Joshua stumbled during a run. "Take it easy. You're doing fine."
"I can't take it easy," he said, getting back to his feet and taking off running. "This is too important."
Katie scowled. She ran to catch up to him. "Just pace yourself, okay?"
Joshua couldn't. He wouldn't. As long as James's killers were out there, he couldn't let himself rest.
Finally, two days later, Anthony called Joshua and his crew back into the lab. "What do you think?" he said.
The full completed suit lay on the table, everyone working on the project gathered around it. Joshua stepped up to it, looking it over in full for the first time. It was bright red, with a blue visor and yellow lines of energy crossing the chest, connecting to the power source at its core. A small cape draped around the shoulders, with the birdies attached proudly to its belt.
"It's very red," he said.
"Not much need to hide, is there?" Anthony said. "This thing's designed for taking down hordes of enemies. Stealth isn't going to help much there."
Joshua shrugged. "I suppose not."
Anthony tapped the button on the morpher at the suit's wrist. In an instant, the suit broke down and disappeared, seeming to disintegrate before Joshua's eyes, leaving only the morpher behind. "Ready to suit up?" Anthony said, picking up the morpher.
Joshua nodded. "Let's do this."
"This way, please." Anthony led Joshua over to a small raised platform. "Step up here."
Joshua stepped onto the platform, and everyone gathered around him. He looked around, seeing the faces of Katie, Dayton, Anthony, General Kenpachi, Doug, and Harriet all cheering him on. Everyone but James.
Anthony handed him his morpher. "There you go," he said.
Joshua accepted it. "Thank you," he said.
He held the small device in his hand for just a second before strapping it around his wrist and pulling it tight. It felt right, as if it belonged there. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button in the middle. The device activated, and a million tiny nanites flooded across his body, spreading up his arms and over his torso like a swarm of tiny insects. They spread up and over his face, blinding him for a second before he found himself looking through the helmet's visor. The suit's features started to take shape, the birdies forming at his belt and his cape, gloves, and boots all separating themselves from the main body. He felt the internal harness form around his arms, legs, and chest. Before he knew it, it was over. The suit's power kicked on, and his visor lit up with all manner of readings, mostly identifying and displaying the names and information of everyone standing around him.
Joshua stared down at his hand, flexing it inside the glove. Power and strength coursed through it like he'd never felt before, not even in the makeshift suit. A mirror hung on the wall beside the platform. He looked into it, seeing himself a fully realized ranger for the very first time. He could hardly believe he was looking at himself. He moved around inside the suit, quicker and stronger than he'd ever been. It was everything his brother had believed it could be.
A wave of pain and anguish washed through his heart. James's absence from the crowd hurt all the more. He should have been here for this moment, to see his brother become a ranger. It was only because of him that this was all possible.
Joshua trembled. He wanted to break down right there, but he knew he couldn't. Everyone was watching him, looking up at him expectantly. He had to be strong. He looked at Katie, who seemed to be watching him with concern and understanding. She seemed to be the only one who had noticed his slight tremble. She met his eyes and gave him a reassuring nod.
"How does it feel?" Anthony asked, smirking and looking over the suit proudly.
"It feels good," Joshua said, moving around. "Really good."
"Shall we go test it out?" He gestured back toward the gym.
"Let's go." Joshua stepped off the platform and followed Anthony and General Kenpachi back into the gym. His support team followed closely behind.
Once inside the gym, Anthony stopped. "Everything in here was designed to work with the ranger suit," he explained. "It's your choice, Captain. What do you want to try out first?"
Joshua looked up at the incredibly high ceilings above him, now understanding what they were for. He looked down at the birdies at his hips and grinned. "I know just the thing," he said, clicking them on. The birdies flared to life and he lifted off the ground, taking off into the sky. He raced around the room, veering tight corners and flying as fast as he could. The birdies worked even better than the makeshift ones had. They were incredibly intuitive and showed no signs of giving out after a few minutes of flight. He circled the room a few times while his friends on the ground whooped and cheered him on.
After a few minutes. He came back down.
"Not bad," Anthony said, making some notes on a clipboard. He gestured to a nearby punching machine. "How about we try out our strength next?"
Joshua turned and punched the device as hard as he possibly could. The device stood its ground, but it seemed to be rattling a lot more afterwards. One of the scientists took the readings for his punch at around 10,000 PSI.
"Holy shoot!" Dayton gasped when he heard it.
Next, they tested out his speed. Anthony made him run three laps around the gym, which was the size of about two professional football fields. He ran it in a little over twenty seconds.
"Very nice," Anthony said. "Now, let's try out your weapons."
"Weapons?" Joshua asked, confused.
"Yes, sir," Anthony said. "Check your holster."
"I don't have a holster." Joshua put his hand down where a holster ought to be and a gun formed in his hand out of nanites. Joshua held it up and stared at it. "Whoa," he said.
Anthony pointed to a target on the far wall. "See if you can hit it."
Joshua pointed the gun at the target and his visor zeroed in on the target's center. Joshua fired, hitting the bullseye every single time.
"Excellent," Anthony said. "Now, do this in front of your visor." He held his hand out in front of his face in a gripping position.
Joshua did so. A whip formed in his hand the moment he did so, wrapped up so that he held in the middle. Joshua took the grip and unfurled it.
"This whip is made from a polycarbonate fiber," Anthony said. "You can use it in that form if you wish, or you can press the button at your thumb and give it a flick."
Joshua did so. The whip immediately straightened itself out into a razor-thin rapier. "The fibers on this blade are incredibly fine. They can cut through the hardest steel. Be careful with it."
Joshua turned to a target nearby and gestured for everyone to stand back. He slashed the target and it fell apart into two clean pieces. Then he reverted it back to its whip form and lashed it at the fallen piece. The whip immediately wrapped itself tightly around its target, allowing Joshua to fling it into the air and slam it back down.
Joshua spent the rest of the day testing out everything the suit had to offer. Anthony and his team took detailed notes on it all, while his support team could only stare in awe at his incredible feats. Even Katie lost all composure and got wrapped up in the assignment. Finally, General Kenpachi had to step in and call it a day.
"Good work today, everyone," he said. "I want you all to get a good night's sleep tonight. I'll see you bright and early in the morning."
Joshua tapped his morpher and the suit vanished back inside of it. A sudden wave of exhaustion crashed over him. He pulled off the morpher and offered it back to Anthony.
"Oh, no," he said. "It's all yours now, buddy. Use it well. Don't leave it out in the open."
A few seconds later, the morpher securely stashed away inside his bag, Joshua headed out of the lab with his support team as they headed for the mess hall to get dinner. Dayton was just chatting about how he needed an extra-sized bowl of curry after all this when Joshua remembered something.
"You guys go on ahead," Joshua told Katie, tapping her on the shoulder. "I'll catch up."
She gave him a suspicious look like she thought he might be going back in for another workout.
"Just going to talk to the general," he assured her.
Joshua found his way to General Kenpachi's office, a little ways down from the lab. He knocked on the door. "Come in," a voice said.
He stepped inside. "Ah, Mr. Cage," General Kenpachi said. "How can I help you?"
"Do you have a minute, sir," Joshua asked.
"Of course," he said. "Come in, sit down."
Joshua took the offered seat. "I was wondering, sir, if you'd looked any more into the location of the warehouse where I and James had been held?"
General Kenpachi smiled a little. "Oh yes," he said. "James left a tracking chip inside the suit you brought back with you. We traced it back to the exact location. We've had spies running reconnaissance on the place ever since. Looks like just a factory from the outside, but there's definitely been some serious Black Cross activity there. I and the rest of the council have been planning on leading a raid on the place within the next few days."
"Oh, good," Joshua said. He chewed his lip. "Sir, if it's not too much to ask, I would like to lead the raid, if I could. Now that the suit is finished."
General Kenpachi chuckled to himself. "I thought you might," he said.