Chapter Twelve
The Red Ranger vs. The Golden Mask
Alarms blared overhead as General Kenpachi looked through the evidence Katie had brought him, Joshua, Katie, and Dayton huddled around him.
"What the devil?" the general said. He picked up the communicator on his desk. "What's happening out there?"
"We're under attack, sir," General Blake's voice game through. "A Black Cross mask got into the base somehow. He got his hands on the old ranger suit."
Joshua, Katie, and Dayton looked at each other as General Kenpachi swore. He tapped on his computer and pulled up what looked like live camera feed for the whole base. Joshua could see soldiers running for their lives as the Golden Mask appeared behind them, his cape flaring behind him like a phantom as he chased them at inhuman speeds, cutting off their heads with single, swift strokes of his scythe. Under the cloak, Joshua could see brief glimpses of the makeshift suit he had escaped in.
"This is bad," Dayton said.
The Golden Mask chased the fleeing soldiers, crossing the distance in a split second. They never stood a chance. Joshua couldn't help but see himself in it all, how he had gone after the Black Cross soldiers on the day he had escaped. He felt a brief twinge of shame.
"I've got to go stop him," he said, clenching his fist.
His friends turned to look at him. "Then we're going too," Katie said.
"No," Joshua said. He nodded to the screen. "You see what he's doing to the regular soldiers. I'd rather have you here to protect the general."
Katie opened her mouth to argue, but Dayton cut in.
"Alright, Cap," he said. "I get it." He didn't look very happy about it. Katie looked even less so. She looked away.
"I guess I do too," she said.
General Kenpachi kept looking at the screen. He seemed to be thinking very hard about something, but whatever it was, he didn't share it. "We'll support you from here," he said.
"Thank you, General."
Joshua stepped out into the middle of the room, facing his friends, and tapped his morpher. In mere seconds, the suit spread across his body, the harness forming around his torso, arms, and legs, followed by the gloves, boots, belt, and the birdie rockets at his side. His helmet formed around his head, his visor covering his eyes and it's heads-up display lighting up..
Joshua could feel the strength and power flowing through him. It was time.
He nodded to his friends. "I'll be back," he said.
"Good luck out there, Captain," Dayton said, saluting him.
Katie still avoided his eyes. She punched his arm gently. "Be safe out there," she said.
"I will," Joshua said. "I promise."
Joshua turned away and opened the door. The sound of screaming met his ears. Joshua shut the door behind him and took off down the hall, racing as fast as he could, following his visor as it directed him toward the Golden Mask. He weaved through the corridors at lightning speed, his visor alerting him the exact moment to turn each corner to avoid crashing. He past several soldiers running to escape, among them Doug and Harriet.
"Guys," he shouted, skidding to a stop.
"Captain," Harriet said, "the Golden Mask is here. We don't know how he got in, but he's killing everybody."
"I know," Joshua said. "Katie and Dayton are with General Kenpachi in his quarters. I want you to go and join them, understand? Hurry, go now!"
They looked at each other and nodded. "Yes sir," they said.
They raced off in that direction, while Joshua kept going in the other. He rounded one last corner onto a scene of absolute carnage. Soldiers, scientists, and officials ran as fast as they could while blood splattered the walls and bodies littered the floors. At the very center of it all was Anthony Starr, the Golden Mask, his mask gleaming as if freshly polished, his black cloak swishing with every movement. He slashed his scythe left and right, severing a head with every strike. The soldiers tried to get away, but he was too fast.
Joshua grabbed at his belt and his gun formed in his hand. He fired, and the bullet ricocheted off Anthony's mask with a ding. Bulletproof. Of course.
Anthony stopped. He looked up, fixing his permanent golden smile on Joshua. Joshua stepped aside to let the remaining survivors flee past him.
"Well, well, well," Anthony's voice said from behind the mask. "If it isn't Little Baby Brother Cage, all dressed up in his superhero costume to impress his big bro."
Joshua clenched his fist.
The Golden Mask spread his arms, opening his cape to show off James's old makeshift suit. "Quite the suits, aren't they?" he said. "Can you imagine what we could do with these things? We could take out EAGLE and the Black Cross singlehandedly. We'd never have to deal with this bloody war ever again."
Joshua kept his gun pointed at him. "You don't have to do all this, Anthony," he said. "We were your friends."
The Golden Mask tipped his head to the side. He let out a short mocking laugh. "Oh, please," he said. "You were never my friends. You were Anthony Starr's friends. Anthony Starr never existed. He was a role I played. A character I made up. And that's all he ever will be." He spread his robes wide one more time, pausing for dramatic effect. "I am, have always been, and will forever be the glorious Golden Mask."
"You don't have to kill all these people," Joshua tried again.
"Oh, but I do," the Golden Mask said, gesturing at the dozen or so headless bodies around him. "I really, really do. It's just way too much fun not to."
In the blink of an eye, he raced toward Joshua and punched him with all of his might square in the chest, making him stumble backwards. It didn't hurt, per se, though it was the most damage anyone had done to him while in the suit so far.
"Remember that move?" Anthony asked. He rubbed his own chest. "You left quite the bruise there on me last time." He came at Joshua again with his scythe.
Joshua blocked it and grappled with him for a few seconds, both of them evenly matched in strength. They pushed back and forth, slamming each other hard into the wall behind them, and forcing each other around in a circle. The Golden Mask cocked his head to the side.
"Thanks for that," he said, pulling free and darting off down the hall after the fleeing soldiers.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Joshua said, chasing after him. He clenched his hand in front of his mask and summoned his whip, whipping it out after Anthony and wrapping him up. With a mighty tug, Joshua yanked him backward and slammed him up against the wall, his hand against his chest.
Anthony chuckled. "You think this whip can hold me?" he said. He strained against the whip with all his might and shattered it into pieces. Joshua stumbled backwards in surprise. "Come on, Baby Cage. These things weren't made to hold up against a ranger. I made sure of that one."
He attacked with his scythe. Joshua dodged quickly out of the way. He tapped the button on his whip and, to his relief, it reformed good as new. He tapped it again, switching it to its rapier form and blocked the Golden Mask's next strike. They clashed again and again, rapier against scythe. Joshua grabbed Anthony and threw him headfirst through the nearest wall. Anthony did the same, their fight carrying them through room after room. Soon, they found themselves inside the reception area, demolishing the desk in the process.
Anthony glanced at the nearby elevator shaft. "Let's take this outside, shall we?" he said, breaking away from Joshua and forcing his way into the elevator. He started up his birdie rockets and launched straight through the elevator's ceiling and up through the shaft.
Joshua followed him, starting up his own rockets and chasing after him. They flew up and up, through the shaft and out into the empty snack shop, smashing at high speed through the front glass window, punching and kicking at each other. Joshua grabbed the Golden Mask and slammed him into the street, leaving a deep crater in his wake. He rolled him over and punched him in the face, cracking the front of the mask. Anthony pushed Joshua off of him, getting to his feet and coming at him with the scythe. Joshua blocked it with his rapier and they clashed several more times. As they fought, more and more civilians started emerging from their homes.
Oh no, Joshua thought.
Anthony noticed them to, racing for the nearest one. Joshua chased after him and blocked his path, but Anthony tossed him aside with a swift elbow. He raised his scythe to strike.
A bullet shot out of nowhere, striking the scythe and knocking it from of his hands, sending it skittering across the road. Both Joshua and Anthony turned to see Katie crouching behind the demolished store front, brandishing a gun, Dayton, Doug, and Harriet beside her.
"Well, well, well," the Golden Mask chuckled. "Look what we have here." He darted toward them.
"No, you don't!" Joshua said. He placed himself between them once again, but this time, he was ready. He blocked the Golden Mask's elbow, then balled up his fist and punched him hard in the chest, right in the sore spot. The force of the punch threw the Golden Mask across the street, smashing into a jewelry store's front window.
Joshua turned to look at his comrades. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I sent them, Captain," General Kenpachi's voice said through his helmet's radio.
"General?" he asked.
Katie looked a little self-conscious. She rose from behind the broken wall, grasping a small, silvery sphere, about the same size and shape as a soccer ball. "I sent them to bring you this," the general said.
Katie handed it to him, looking down. It was light like a soccer ball too. "What is it?" Joshua asked.
"A bomb," General Kenpachi said. "A very powerful bomb. Designed specifically to be used on rangers."
Joshua's eyes widened as the implication set in. "What?"
Katie scowled slightly.
"We needed a contingency, Captain," the General said. "In case one of you went rogue. I'm sorry. The bomb will explode with the force of an atom bomb, but it is designed to keep its explosion contained, so it destroys the target and only the target."
Joshua scowled but nodded. He turned to face the Golden Mask, who was just barely picking his way out of the destroyed jewelry store, rubbing his chest where he'd been hit. He seemed to be wheezing in pain. His cracked mask had shattered slightly, revealing half of his face. His exposed eye fell on the bomb in Joshua's hands.
"Oh, no," he said, a slight tremor of fear in his voice. He clicked on his birdies again and started them up. He lifted into the air, his rockets sparking and sputtering for a few seconds before dropping him right back to the ground. Apparently they'd been damaged slightly in their fight. He cast a quick glance at Joshua and the bomb before taking off down the street on foot, his superpowered legs carrying him at incredible speed.
Joshua thought quickly. He couldn't let him get away. Not with that suit. He looked at the bomb, its resemblance to a soccer ball giving him an idea. "Everyone, circle up!" he shouted to his team. They all nodded and came out of hiding and circled him. Joshua kicked the bomb toward Dayton.
"Dayton!"
"Got it," Dayton said, headbutting it toward Harriet.
"Doug!" Harriet shouted, kicking it.
Doug caught it. "Katie!"
Katie kicked it toward Joshua. Joshua used its own speed to send it up into the air before leaping up himself and kicking it with all the force he could muster.
The bomb rocketed at supersonic speed toward the Golden Mask's back, striking him right between the shoulder blades. Joshua's visor alerted him the second it struck, and he detonated it. The bomb exploded with tremendous force, launching a pillar of fire high into the sky. Nanites spread out around it, containing the blast, absorbing the radiation, and sending the flames upward. Anthony let out one final scream as the bomb ripped through his suit and himself with it. After a few seconds, he was gone, reduced to mere atoms, a small scorched pockmark left in the street.
"We got him!" Doug said with his mouth open.
Dayton let out a whoop. "We did it," he said, grinning broadly.
Katie stepped over to where his scythe lay on the ground and picked it up. Her bullet had shattered the handle. She glanced back up at Joshua. "Nice shooting, Captain," she said.
Joshua smiled back at her. "Thanks for the help, Katie," he said.
The next morning, Joshua found himself in General Kenpachi's office. They'd had a long night, cleaning up the bodies and repairing what they could. Anthony had left quite the mess in his wake.
We've analyzed everything Lieutenant Young collected last night."
Joshua didn't respond.
"I would like you to know that Miss Young will not be seeing any disciplinary action for any of her actions yesterday. I vouched for her good intentions before the committee, and they agreed to let it all slide."
Joshua nodded. "Thank you, sir."
The general brought out a number of files. "It seems that Anthony Starr was indeed a false identity created sometime around the inception of EAGLE itself, with fake documents and credentials and everything. Which tells me we need to start looking at some of those in charge of that."
Joshua looked over the papers General Kenpachi put before him. "Roger Stevens?" he asked. He looked up at the general. "Like the actor?"
The general nodded. "It seems so."
Joshua looked through the paper. "My family went to see a show of his once," he said. "I think I remember he died in the very first Black Cross attack."
"That is what our records show," Kenpachi said grimly. He shuffled through his files for a second. "EAGLE owes you a great deal, Mister Cage. You, and Lieutenant Young, and your brother. Thanks to you, we have uncovered a mole who almost undid every ounce of work we have done in the last five years, and prevented him from delivering a very powerful weapon to our sworn enemies."
"And thanks to your brother," he said, holding Katie's flash drive in his hand, "We can hopefully identify a few more traitors in our midst before the Black Cross can wipe their system clean."
Joshua smiled. That was his brother. General Kenpachi handed him the flash drive. "Make sure Miss Young gets that back."
Joshua closed his hand around the drive. "Will do, sir."
General Kenpachi smiled for a brief moment. He cleared his throat again and went back to his papers. "I am sorry," he finally said, "about the bomb. Its construction was mandated by the committee as a backup in case things went south with the project. I thought we should tell you about them, but the top brass vetoed that instantly."
"I get it," Joshua said. He looked up at the general, whose eyes shone with genuine remorse. "It was a good plan," he said. "And it came in handy last night. I imagine we may have to use it a few more times before this war is done."
General Kenpachi scowled. "I hate to admit it, but I think you're right."
He gathered up his papers and put them back inside the file. "I think that should be just about it, Captain Cage," he said, getting to his feet. He saluted him. "Thank you for your service."
Joshua stood and saluted him back. "My pleasure, General."
"Dismissed."