Zoey was in the laundry, finishing off the backlog of work that had built up while she was at the infirmary. The fact that it had just piled up because she wasn't there to do it rather than others taking the initiative to redistribute it among the other workers was just one irritation she had about the whole situation that she fully intended to take up with her sergeant. She'd done so much already to re-organise the laundry, putting together a more efficient system that was a benefit to all of them, and yet no one had thought it might be an idea to deal with the backlog to keep everything up to date?
She was glad that she hadn't had to miss any more time off work. If she had, she was sure that things would only get worse and worse before anyone thought to address the backlog from her area. Presuming they ever did.
She was just finishing folding a set of overalls, putting it on a stack when her sergeant came by.
"REEVES!" He yelled, a habit that was necessitated by the machines. Zoey looked to him as he shoved a trolley towards him. "Go do the laundry rounds!"
"But it's only Tuesday." She responded. "Rounds aren't until tomorrow."
"Yeah, but we've got a dignitary visiting." He told her. "Some big-shot from city hall is coming to tour the facility. Commander Shaw wants the place spotless for when they get here."
Great, that was all she needed, more work. Still, she figured at least emptying the hampers a day early would mean that the incoming pile wouldn't be quite as large. If she was lucky then with an extra hour or two, she could finally be caught up by the end of the day. She just took the trolley and headed out to do the laundry run. She could only think that an hour or two out of the laundry might put her in a better mood. Besides, if she ran into Nate, it would give her another chance to thank him.
In another part of the base, Nate was preparing the equipment for the morph transfer. The Rangers were likely already on their way to the base for the procedure.
"Make sure the systems are calibrated and perform a full system diagnostic!" He called out. "I want to make sure everything runs perfectly!"
The others were buzzing as they went about their duties. There was a palpable sense of excitement, most of them had grown up on stories of the Rangers, and had been working for months towards the technology that would lead to this point, the day when Earth would see its first Rangers in almost two decades. For him though…it was the culmination of a dream he'd had almost his whole life. He'd been working on this since he was six years old.
He looked around, checking no one was watching, before pulling an old personal computer out of his bag, setting it up in the corner. It was the first personal computer he'd ever owned. When most kids' parents were getting them Legos or colouring books, his had bought him his first PC. He felt a hand on his shoulder and let out a huge shriek, almost jumping right out of his skin.
"Hey there Nate." Roxy greeted him. "Wow, someone's a little on-edge. Anyone would think it was you that was about to have his genetic code put through a blender."
"Please don't do that." He said as he tried to catch his breath. "What are you doing in here?"
"Oh, I was just curious, wanted to see how things were progressing. You know…with the DNA blender." She teased him. Nate just flared his nostrils in the way that always amused Roxy. She did love teasing him about his technology. She was a little curious, after all this was the machinery that in a couple of hours would be turning her into a Power Ranger, but she had slipped in to speak to Nate first. She found her attention grabbed by the PC though. "Hey, that's pretty retro."
"Yeah, it's…" He looked around as though he wanted to admit something shameful. He gestured her closer. "It was my first PC."
"Uh…OK?" She asked. "And what's it doing here? I mean…you have all the funding and equipment you could want for something a little more current surely."
"It's nothing to do with the system. It isn't even connected." Nate told her in a barely audible whisper. "It's…"
She couldn't quite hear the last part; it was more of a mumble than anything else.
"I'm sorry?" She asked.
"For luck." He said a little louder. She just smiled. "I know, I know its silly, something as abstract as luck but…I've had this since I was a kid and I've brought it to every project I've ever created…"
"Aw, you have a good luck charm! That's so adorable!" She gushed.
"Could you please not tell anyone?" He begged her. "I know it's silly but…"
"No, no I get it. I totally do." She told him. "Of course, if I keep your little secret then you might just be able to do something for me."
"D…d…do something for you?" He stammered. "What would that be?"
"ROXY!" Commander Shaw called out, seeing her. "Come through to the briefing room!"
"I'm coming!" Roxy replied. She looked to Nate and smiled. "OK, I've got to go, but just remember…you owe me."
"OK, I'll see you later." Nate replied, but he couldn't help being a little worried by the way Roxy said that. He had known her long enough to know she wasn't a malicious person, but she did have a mischievous side. He was a little concerned as to what she would want him to do in regard to keeping his good luck charm a secret.
As he walked away, he didn't notice the screen on his old computer swirling, before a large spark arced from that into the main computer.
In a limo, heading through the streets, Devon was sitting with a sullen expression, staring out the window of the car. His attention was only grabbed as his dad offered him a handkerchief. He looked to him and reluctantly took it, beginning to dab his lip. His dad had been remarkably silent for most of the journey, but Devon unfortunately knew that likely only meant he was winding up for something.
"Imagine my shock, when I found you at the gym, when you were supposed to be at that job interview." Mayor Daniels began. Devon just looked to him.
"Wow, dad." Devon responded. "You know, most dads would ask if their kid was alright before the lecture starts."
"Most fathers don't have sons that think it's a brilliant idea to pick a fight with the World Karate Champion." Mayor Daniels replied a little abruptly. "I think a few bruises and a fat lip is getting off pretty lightly all things considered."
Devon was angry, but he didn't feel like there was much point in talking about it. He clearly didn't want to hear what had happened. All he seemed to be interested in was that stupid job interview.
"Do you have any idea how many strings I pulled to get you that job interview?" Mayor Daniels asked him. "Arthur's been a friend of mine for years, and after setting it up for you, you just blew it off. Do you have any idea how that makes me look?"
"Dad, I don't know anything about cleaning carpets." Devon responded wearily. He could see the look of disdain on his dad's face as he said this. It was a weak argument and he knew it. Of course, he didn't know anything about cleaning carpets, who the hell did until someone taught them? Of course, he doubted pointing out to his dad he hadn't even asked him if he wanted to learn how to clean carpets or if he actually wanted a job in the first place was going to ease the mood at all.
"No, but you're an expert at video games and Karate." Mayor Daniels said a little derisively. "I suppose you were just born knowing how to do those things right?"
"My face says I'm not much of an expert right now." Devon sighed.
"When you pick a fight with a World Champion I'm not surprised." Mayor Daniels said in response. Mayor Daniels said impatiently. He did love his son, he just wanted to see him find some kind of direction, to see him show an interest in something other than learning out to fight or play silly games that didn't do anything other than waste the potential of brains that got little exercise as far as he could see. "Son, those things aren't going to take you anywhere! You have so much potential. You're in good shape, you got good grades in school, so I know there's a brain in there if you'd just use it for something other than making a plumber jump on turtles."
Devon pulled out his phone and started playing a game on it. He had heard this lecture so many times he could recite it from heart.
"Son, one day opportunity's going to knock, and I just want you to be ready." Mayor Daniels told him. However, he could see that Devon wasn't listening any longer. He wished that their conversations didn't keep ending up this way. Over the last couple of years especially, he and Devon just seemed to get further and further apart. He was at a loss as to what he should do. He tapped the glass between him and the driver. "Drop me off up ahead at Grid Battleforce Headquarters."
"You're going to Grid Battleforce?" Devon rushed out. Mayor Daniels turned to see Devon looking at him with his eyes wide. Why did this have to be what got his attention?
"Yes." He sighed. He didn't want to tell Devon that he now had very real concerns as to whether he was going to have to move to try and shut the whole thing down. He'd championed it for a couple of years, but now he heard they were tapping the Morphing Grid, it was a different matter.
"Rumour has it they have this amazing simulator! It's unbeatable!" Devon said excitedly. There were a lot of rumours about the technological marvels of Grid Battleforce, some of which even broached into the gaming community. There were many video games that had originally started life as training simulations for military hardware. A few years ago, Devon had achieved an ace ranking on a fighter jet game that was so close to a direct simulation it actually came with the Air Force's official training guide. Mayor Daniels though heard Devon's words and only heard more video games talk. "Can I come?"
"Absolutely not!" Mayor Daniels put down flatly. "If what I heard from the press release is true, that they're really tapping into the Morphing Grid, I don't want you anywhere near that place. This whole experiment is a big mistake."
As he turned his attention to his own phone, Devon was about to turn away and sulk, but as he did so, he saw his dad had left his security pass lying on the seat beside them. He checked to make sure his dad wasn't looking, and quickly took a picture of it, making sure to catch the scanner code on the screen.
Back at Grid Battleforce, Ravi, Roxy and Blaze had all received their final briefings. They were in the changing room getting dressed in their uniforms, having been given their Ranger designations.
Blaze was admiring himself in the mirror as he strapped on his jacket. He had a huge smile on his face as he turned this way and that, posing and admiring himself. He could hardly believe his luck when Commander Shaw had announced him as the Red Ranger. He was planning on telling his father that he had become the Red Ranger and the leader anyway, since the classified nature of the project meant that he would likely never find out, but now he had heard that it was official.
The uniform was white, with accents in blazing red, with grey trousers and strong boots. He didn't really care so much for the uniform, from what they had said in the briefing, it wasn't like they were going to wear them often. The Rangers' identities were only meant to be known within Grid Battleforce, and so walking around in those uniforms at other times would only defeat the point in keeping their identities secret. Much like some special forces units, like Delta Force or the British Special Air Service, they would have other designations within Grid Battleforce and only be called to Ranger Duties in times of need. On paper at least no reference to them as being Rangers would exist. As far as anyone else was concerned, Blaze would be a hand-to-hand combat instructor.
"Ravi!" He called out, smiling as he admired himself. "How do I look?"
"You look fine." Ravi answered without even looking at him.
"I'm sorry, let's try that again. How do I look?" Blaze asked. Ravi sighed.
"You look fine…sir." Ravi responded. This was the other part that Blaze loved.
"That's better!" Blaze responded, before heading out of the changing room. As he left, Roxy leaned in towards Ravi.
"Wow, I didn't think he'd be able to fit a head that size up his own ass." She commented. Ravi couldn't help laughing at that one, despite every instinct to respect his commanding officer. It was a little bit of a blow to him that he hadn't been chosen as leader, and as a person he didn't really like Blaze terribly much, but he respected the chain of command enough to believe he would not have been chosen without good reason. He was on the team, and what mattered was the duty he was assigned to. He would be the Blue Ranger. As he stood up, strapping on his jacket, Roxy came to his side, pulling on her gloves.
"So, you nervous?" She asked him.
"Morph-X is about to combine my DNA with the DNA of a gorilla." He reminded her as he picked up his gloves and started to pull them on. "Yeah, and hopefully make me into a superhero, so…yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous. You?"
"No." She told him, looking around to make sure no one was watching, before coming in closer, placing a hand on his arm gently. "Because I've got you to back me up."
Ravi saw this, he felt her touch, and all the feelings he had for her came rushing to the fore. There was a part of him that wanted to take her and run, to just say 'screw it' to the whole thing, tell Grid Battleforce they could find other Rangers and leave with her. But he gently brushed her hand off him.
"Roxy, we talked about this." He reminded her. "We can't be together, not anymore. We both knew the rules when we were chosen."
"Yeah, we talked about this, and you said it was stupid." She reminded him. "And in about an hour's time, what are they going to do? UN-scramble our DNA?"
"It is a stupid rule, but we can't just ignore it just because we don't like it." Ravi reminded her. "And if I go to my mom and get her to change the rules to suit me…to suit us…then that'll just prove to everyone they were right about me."
This last part broke Roxy's heart. She knew that just ignoring the rules was one thing, but it was quite another to campaign to change the rules that didn't make sense. There were many military regulations that had changed over the years with good reason. It was still not that long ago that military regulations forbade people who were in same-sex relationships from doing so openly while serving. Now, there were many people that served while enjoying a home life with the people they loved. But to hear Ravi say that because of his connection to his mom he couldn't even ask her to change the rules, to know that it would be impossible for them to be together for as long as they were Rangers, that was devastating to her.
"Please don't make this tougher than it already is." Ravi begged her as he walked away. Roxy just watched him go sadly.
"Yeah." She sighed. She was completely heartbroken, knowing that for however long their tenure as Rangers lasted, the man she loved would be forever beyond her reach. Through her heartbreak, her thoughts turned to Nate and Zoey. She loved them both dearly, and could see that they clearly cared about each other. Just because she couldn't get her own happy ending didn't mean that they couldn't. Perhaps, she could even live vicariously through them, gaining some measure of happiness in knowing that she had guided them to a place that was denied to her.
"ROXY!" Blaze called as he rounded the door. "Move your ass, it's almost time!"
"Yeah, sure." She replied, sniffing and wiping away some tears. "I'll be right there."
At the front entrance, Ben and Betty had been assigned to the security detail. With so much going on and so many people needed all over the base, Commander Shaw had seen fit to put them on the desk duty to ensure that no unauthorised visitors came in.
They'd already let the reporter that had been the recipient of the leak slip through their fingers, and they both had been given a pretty serious talking to that lasted more than an hour to remember it by. Commander Shaw had left them under no false impressions that the press was likely to try anything to get a scoop before the switch-throwing ceremony, and to be firmly on their guard. The press were tricky and were likely to try anything to get in. Betty was at the desk, standing on top of a small set of step ladders so that she could see over the desk. The door opened and a man she had seen a few times came in. Mayor Daniels' face had been in newspapers, on television and in campaign flyers all over the city many times over the years.
"Good day." He said, handing over his security pass. "I'm here to see Commander Shaw."
Betty was about to just call Commander Shaw, but harsh memories of the long lecture about how reporters were likely to try anything were fresh on her mind. What if this was a look-alike? What if he was wearing a rubber mask? She closely inspected the pass and his face.
"This looks like you." She said sceptically.
"It is me!" He humphed rather impatiently.
"Well, we'll see about that! Won't we?" She replied in her most intimidating tone. Something that seemed a whole lot less intimidating once she rounded the desk and Mayor Daniels could see she barely made it up to his midriff. "Ben! Retinal scanner! Wait there, sir!"
She flashed him in the face with a device, blinding him.
"Is that really necessary?" He demanded, blinking to clear his vision.
"We'll decide what's necessary." Betty told him. "Ben, search him!"
As they were distracted with Mayor Daniels, Devon came in the door. He could see that the security team was putting him through the works. A part of him wanted to stay and watch. It was pretty funny to see his dad getting more and more irritated by the security, but as he noticed no one was between him and the entrance, he figured he wouldn't get a better shot. He ran over, scanning his phone at the scanner.
"I can't believe that worked!" He gasped as he got a green light. He just slipped in, heading down the hall, hoping to find somewhere he could hide until the place cleared out a little. He imagined that once the ceremony started, most of the attention would be at the front of the building. Once that happened, he'd have all the time in the world to find the simulator. Mike was going to be sick with jealousy when he told him!
Back at the front, Mayor Daniels humoured Ben and Betty for so long, but after a while his patience was finally at its limit. He had been promised full access to the base, and yet he was getting harassed by security. Was it a ploy to irritate him so much he'd just leave? He finally had enough.
"Do you know who I am?" He barked at them. Zoey was just coming past the main entrance when she heard his voice. She could hardly believe she was standing only a few feet away from the mayor. She could see Ben and Betty stammering, trying to come up with an excuse.
"I do! You're Mayor Daniels!" Zoey interjected, saving her friends from further embarrassment. She thrust out a hand. "I'll take you inside, I'm Zoey!"
"Pleasure to meet you Zoey." He greeted her.
"Follow me sir!" She said, guiding him inside. "It's a huge honour meeting you sir, I was…well, I know you're busy but I'm glad you approved the designs for the invisible fences by the woodlands."
"Invisible…you came up with that?" He asked her. It was an idea that had crossed his table a while back, something proposed to reduce accidents caused by wild animals running onto the freeway from the woodlands. It had appeared to work, and the accident numbers had already gone down.
"Well, I…came up with a concept and…It was a group effort." She told him as she grabbed a laundry cart and started pushing it down the corridor. "Today's so exciting, Morph-X is going to change the world! And I'm going to help! I've got ideas! Lots of them, like the invisible fences and Morph-X powered bicycles and…"
"Thanks Zoey." Someone said, dumping a load of laundry in her basket. She then saw the mayor just staring at her. She could only imagine what he thought of her, going on and on about all her ideas. She did sometimes let her enthusiasm run away with her. She imagined that he probably met a hundred people like her every day, people that thought they had all the ideas to fix every problem.
"If…I ever get out of the laundry." She concluded sheepishly. "Of course, I trained to be a Grid Battleforce Cadet…but…I got cut…"
She was starting to cringe, what was she thinking? Why couldn't she just stop talking? She'd gotten nervous being so close to someone with the influence needed to change the world for the better and now her mouth just wouldn't stop running away from her.
"Still, I can make a difference, because I'm not afraid of big problems. I solve big problems!" She said, finally stopping talking. She looked to him nervously, wondering how he was going to react to the deranged laundry girl that had ambushed him. However, he just smiled.
"That's exactly why I became Mayor." He told her. He did feel the nerves coming from her, it was hard not to. He'd only known her for about a minute and she'd already said more to him than most people did in several days. "I think you'll go far young lady."
"There you are." Commander Shaw said as she arrived, shaking his hand. "Mr Mayor."
"Commander Shaw, I presume." He concluded. She just nodded in response, before looking to Zoey, who was still frozen to the spot. "Back to work Ms Reeves."
"Pleased to meet you Mr Mayor." Zoey replied, before scurrying off back on her rounds. Commander Shaw just gestured to him to follow her.
"Why don't we begin with our main laboratory?" She suggested.
"Laboratory?" He asked. He was a little surprised, he was half-expecting to be given the run-around, but she was going to take him straight to the laboratory?
"Of course." She replied. "You want to see what you're signing off on don't you?"
"Well, yes, of course." He answered. She just smiled.
"Then follow me." She told him. "I'm going to introduce you to someone who'll explain everything."