Blaze, Roxy and Ravi were in the lab, just running through the last of Nate's tests. Although all the cadets had received one of the most rigorous and thorough physical examinations ever conceived before they were admitted to the program, he was taking no chances. The power of the Ranger Rigs was immense, and it was going to work in combination with extensive mutation of the host to enhance their already considerable physical gifts.
"Alright, that is looking excellent." Nate said as he took an armband off Roxy, having taken her blood pressure. "You're all in absolutely excellent health. Everything's almost ready for the procedure."
"So, what are those things?" Blaze asked him, flicking a thumb in the direction of some devices that looked a lot like beds, with restraints attached to them, and kind of a canopy that would completely envelope their heads.
"I'm so glad you asked me that Blaze." Nate replied as he went to his workbench and opened a chiller cabinet. He pulled out a very large syringe, with a VERY large needle. "I'm guessing you just volunteered to go first."
"Wait…what the hell?" Blaze asked. "What the hell is that?"
"Oh, this?" Nate asked him. "It's just a little something that helps catalyse the morphing sequence. You see, the Morph-X sequencing will effectively strip your DNA down to its base codes and re-write it. This will help make the whole thing just a little more comfortable."
"A…a…a…a…nd the b…b…bed?" He stammered. "Why are the restraints there?"
"Aw, you're not scared of a little shot are you Blaze?" Ravi teased him.
"NO!" He yelled. "But just…look at that thing, it's the size of an ice pick!"
"It's just a shot." Roxy assured him. "I'm sure Nate wouldn't do anything that would hurt us, right Nate?"
"There might be some discomfort…"
"Discomfort?" Blaze snapped. "Then what do we need to be tied down for?"
"You're not scared, are you?" Nate asked him. Blaze just glared at Nate with annoyance. He looked to Ravi, who just smiled and shook his head.
"You're the leader, right?" He asked, gesturing to the devices. "Don't you think you should lead by example?"
"I'm NOT scared!" Blaze yelled in a way that convinced precisely no one. He got into one of the beds, allowing Nate to strap him in.
"Now, I've mixed it in with a mild sedative so you should be more or less in a kind of…well…micro sleep. Like a short nap. You shouldn't move once the shot's been administered, but this is just in case your body has unforeseen reactions."
Nate started to sweat a little. Nate was enjoying his discomfort a little as he watched the normally cocky and self-assured Blaze on the verge of a panic.
"The canopy is kind of a sensory dampener. It'll provide a little soothing auditory stimulus while blocking out any vision." Nate told him. "Once I give you the shot, you should be out pretty quick, and you should be awake within about ten minutes."
"Alright, OK then." Blaze said, breathing deeply, trying to psych himself up. "OK, so…go ahead, get started."
"Started?" Nate asked him, showing him the needle. "I've already finished!"
As much as he was enjoying seeing Blaze get freaked out by a needle, he was still a consummate professional. He'd never do anything that would bring any of the Ranger candidates, even Blaze, to harm. He didn't even really think they needed the catalyst in theory, but he just wanted to be sure that any discomfort they did suffer was as mild as humanly possible. Ravi and Roxy stepped up, taking their place in the other two beds as Nate pulled the canopy down over Blaze's head. As he was strapping Roxy in, his communicator sounded.
"Nate, this is Commander Shaw." She greeted him. "Our guest of honour is here. Is the lab prepared for the tour?"
"If you just give me a moment, the catalysation process will be complete." Nate answered. "By the time you get here, the Rangers should all be resting soundly, and their identities concealed."
"Alright, we'll be there in a couple of minutes." She told him.
Devon made his way along the corridor as far as he dared, before darting into a door to get out of the way. There were a lot of personnel milling around, and while it looked like a lot of them had a lot to do, he didn't want to risk being discovered.
He knew that breaking into a building over a videogame was a dumb move. People didn't tend to take the idea of trespassers too lightly. One time in High School, he'd been taken on a field trip to a software developer in order to show the students the potential career paths that could be taken from those with a flair for coding. He fully appreciated the artistry and skill of coding, but he only really knew basics. More a case of manipulating code than anything else. He had made some mods for existing games in order to increase the challenge of them, create new levels and challenges for when he had exhausted the content the developers had made and suchlike but he didn't have the patience or, if he was honest, the technical abilities to write the kind of novel codes needed to create a game.
On that field trip, they'd been going around the offices of one of his favourite developers' offices, and he knew that they were close to completing a highly anticipated game. He had taken the opportunity to get 'lost' from the group in order to try and see if he could find and see some juicy spoilers, he could tell his friends about. Maybe even see if anyone had left a copy open that he could get to try out. In the end they had found him and not only thrown him out of the building, but had taken his picture and details and permanently barred him from returning! They had also threatened him with barring him from being able to play their games, but that threat was simply so ridiculous and unworkable he'd never given it another thought after that day.
But Grid Battleforce's battle simulators…they were an urban myth of the tech world. Like Modern Warfare on steroids. Like Wolfenstein taken to a whole new dimension. He had considered leaving, but he also knew that as simulations rather than games, there was a very real chance the software would never become available to the public, or if it did, it would be decades from now. He was already here; he was already close…what was the worst that could happen? He would get thrown out of another building?
He cursed under his breath as he saw the flow of traffic, realising that people were coming down here more regularly. Whatever was going on down here, it seemed it was happening soon because the corridor had gone from virtually empty to being like a human freeway within a matter of minutes. Now he was wondering how he'd ever get out of this…where the hell was he anyway?
He looked around and noticed clothing lined up on racks and shelves. There were machines and chemicals. The laundry. He was in a laundry. He saw a lab coat and a smile crossed his face as he got a crazy idea. He was a huge fan of the Hitman series. Sure, this was real life and not a videogame, but surely the principle would be the same right? It wasn't like a building this large everyone would know everyone. If he was dressed like one of the others and just stayed far enough away from others to not let them get too close a look at him, he could pass a cursory glance as he moved through the building.
After putting on the lab coat and fastening it, he slipped out into the corridor, where he found a trolley which was loaded with some chemicals and electrical components. He took the handle and started top push the trolley when he heard…
"HEY! YOU!" A voice barked behind him. Shit, he'd been busted already? He had completed virtually every level of every Hitman game with the best possible rating. He normally got a lot further than this, even on the highest difficulties with guards that seemed to have supernatural senses. He turned to see a recruit approaching him. "What are you doing here?"
"I…uh…" Devon started to stammer, trying to think of something to say. The cadet started rummaging through the contents of the trolley.
"This is due in the Morphing Lab." The guard instructed him. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Oh…I got turned around." Devon told him. "You know what this place is like, all the corridors look the same."
The cadet just sighed, before gesturing Devon to follow him. Devon breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps he was better, or luckier, than he originally believed.
Nate was coming into the computer lab after logging the Rangers' vitals when Commander Shaw entered with Mayor Daniels. She brought him in, letting him see the laboratory.
"As you can see, we are extremely well equipped." She said, panning her arm around the lab. "This is not the most secure area, but rest assured we are showing you things that are not exactly going to be on the tour. This is some of the most advanced and classified technology on the planet."
Mayor Daniels though, wasn't particularly interested in any of that. While he wasn't particularly high up in politics, serving as the mayor of a city did give him some access to restricted materials, albeit not necessarily major matters of National Security. To him, much of the room looked like just computers, but that didn't necessarily mean some of the files ON the computers weren't extremely sensitive. Even simple word documents could be extremely damaging in the wrong hands and contain materials that put lives in danger.
He looked around, and his eyes came to rest on a canister which seemed to house a glowing green liquid. It looked unnervingly beautiful, but at the same time unnatural. There was nothing he had ever seen like it. As he approached it, hairs on his arms and neck started to stand up. He could dimly hear screams in the back of his mind, unnerving him. He could smell burning, ozone…just being this close to it brought back memories he never thought he would relive. He knew even before Commander Shaw told him this was what he was looking for.
"That is Morph-X." She confirmed. "You can pick it up if you like."
Mayor Daniels looked to her uneasily. She just nodded.
"In this state it is perfectly safe to handle." She assured him. He reached out his hand, and every instinct in his body wanted to pull away, but his mind, his heart, willed him on. He picked up the vial, which was about the size of a soda can, holding it up to inspect it. "What you're holding in your hand is enough Morph-X to power this entire city for decades. It is the culmination of over a decade of research and development and it's…"
"The miracle cure to all the world's problems." Mayor Daniels said as he looked to it. He could almost feel the power in it right through the glass and steel. His heart was racing being this close to it. He had felt this power once before, the very air crackled with it on the worst day of his life. He shook his head. "I've heard all the press statements."
"Well, it's everything it promises and so much more." She replied. "Just think, no more fuel shortages. No more blackouts. No more households that need to decide between heating and eating. No more of our children being sent overseas to sacrifice their lives for a few barrels of oil that will be gone in a matter of months only for us to do the same thing all over again. On the day that he perfected the refinement process, Nate sold the patent rights for only one dollar, which he then donated to his local animal shelter."
Commander Shaw looked to it stoically.
"I was sceptical at first too, but I've already seen this do some miraculous things." She told him. "That is what it promises. That is Morph-X."
"In the Morphing Grid it exists as pure energy." Nate said, coming over from his work station, causing Mayor Daniels to turn around and look at him. Instinctively, he clutched the container in both hands, like he feared what he was holding. "But I've refined it into a liquid. You don't need to worry, it's perfectly safe to handle. No fallout like with nuclear fuel, the radiation from it is in no way harmful to any life on this planet. It doesn't react to shock like Nitro Glycerine, you could take a hammer to that container and be in no danger whatsoever."
"So, it's completely safe?" Mayor Daniels asked somewhat derisively. Everyone with even the smallest amount of knowledge of science knew that energy was always dangerous if not directed properly. Lots of energy being released in one place at one time, that's what an explosion was. The day that the equation was discovered for splitting the atom, the scientist involved outright stated he had also created the potential for the atomic bomb.
"Well, if you were to ignite it with a significant source like an explosion or excessive heat you could cause an explosion, but that container you're holding is designed to be able to withstand a hundred pounds of C4."
Commander Shaw sighed and shook her head. She wished Nate hadn't said that. She knew he was understandably proud of his work, and in his mind he was just expressing to Mayor Daniels exactly what she also knew, that if anyone released enough power to cause that Morph-X to explode, then frankly everything in the room would be destroyed, including them, long before it ignited. Still, she felt like all Mayor Daniels heard was the potential for an explosion right there, literally in the palms of his hands.
"This is Nate Silva. Our chief scientist." She introduced him, hoping to get Mayor Daniels to move past this point. He started to approach Nate, who was already on another computer, compiling data related to the Rangers' vitals in the other room. The Morphing Process would go down in a short time. As proud as he was of Morph-X, Nate was eager to see his Rangers for the first time. It was a childhood dream that was finally going to come true.
"Nate Silva, child prodigy." Mayor Daniels responded. He'd spent a lot of time researching all he could about Morph-X, and although the details of Morph-X itself were kept pretty quiet, he had managed to find details of Nate. His name had cropped up in journals and papers many times in his short life. "I've read about you. Came here when you were just six years old."
"When he was ten, he had already found a way to tap into the Rangers' Morphing Grid." Commander Shaw interjected. She understood Mayor Daniels' thoughts, she'd be lying if she didn't say that she had some reservations herself hearing Nate's age, but she'd now been working with him, and acting as somewhat of a surrogate carer for many years now. She knew how remarkable he was. It wasn't like this was a case of an average ten-year-old that found his dad's cigarette lighter, or God forbid, gun. He already understood more about the true dangers of his work before his teens than many people did in the twilight of their careers.
"Which, if my calculations are correct, means we will have unlimited access to the most powerful energy source in the known universe." Nate said proudly.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of!" Mayor Daniels stated rather bluntly, his face becoming stony and cold. Nate just stared to him. He had to defend his work many times, such was the nature of science, especially when he was coming up against people whose fortune and vested interests were intrinsically tied to other forms of energy like oil. He even had to defend against people who had justifiable safety concerns, much like those that had first proposed the use of nuclear energy. However, even he was a little surprised by how personal Mayor Daniels' tone seemed to be.
"It seems that Mayor Daniels believes what we're doing here is a mistake." Commander Shaw told him. Nate saw Mayor Daniels coming towards him.
"A HUGE mistake." He continued. "Since before you were born, every major evil has tried to seize that power for themselves. From Rita Repulsa, to King Mondo. From Olympius to…to Ransik."
He had to compose himself a little on the last one. He could still remember all too clearly the day that had changed his life forever. He approached Nate intently.
"They all wanted to take the Rangers' power and rule the universe." He concluded, holding up the container. "And now that you've wrapped it up, the power to run a city…in the palm of my hand? You've wrapped it up with a ribbon! And now I fear that some evil mind will come and try again, and that you…all of you…will be unable to stop it happening."
"I beg to differ." Commander Shaw said to him. "We haven't just been developing Morph-X. We all understood the very risk you've so eloquently voiced. We've not just been working on this. We've been working on the means to defend it if necessary."
She looked to Nate and nodded to confirm to him that it was alright. Just because Nate had discovered Morph-X in the first place didn't give him the clearance to determine who he was allowed to talk about all his projects with. Commander Shaw had the highest clearance on the base, and could make the decision to divulge classified information if she saw fit.
"It's time I showed you something." She said, gesturing to the door, heading back towards the Ranger technology. "Nate, are our operatives…?"
"Our operatives are secured." He told her. He knew what she meant; she was asking if their identities would be disclosed. Since they were all under the canopies, Nate knew that he wouldn't be able to see who they were.
"Then it's time I showed you something Mr Mayor." She said, gesturing to Mayor Daniels to follow her. Mayor Daniels put down the container of Morph-X, before following her. Once she'd entered her biometric scans and satisfied the security system of her identity, the door slid open.
Mayor Daniels could see that much like the first room, there were several computers, but that was where the similarity ended. In here, there were a lot of other things too, mostly what looked like weapons. A couple of massive devices dominated the room, one which held three platforms set up under some cables, and a bank of what looked like beds, where three people were lying under the cover of some kind of device.
In the corner, where Devon was putting the trolley, he'd been instructed to take it, saw his dad coming in. He knew that while he might have fooled some of the guards, his dad would recognise him straight away. Seeing no way past him to get out the door, instead he looked for somewhere to hide. He found a place behind one of the computers and dived behind it, waiting until he could hopefully slip past unseen.
"What you're about to see is classified." Commander Shaw told him. "Morph-X will do a lot more than power the city and its infrastructure."
"This computer runs the entire system." Nate said proudly, showing him the computer, before heading to the platforms. "When you activate the Morph-X system for the first time, Morph-X will flow through here, combining with animal DNA and mutating our three subjects."
"Mutating? Subjects?" Mayor Daniels asked, beginning to look confused. He looked between the both of them. "What is this? What are you talking about?"
Commander Shaw tapped a few keys on the computer, which asked for a retinal scan. After giving it, she pulled up an image. Mayor Daniels looked to it in disbelief.
"You're creating…Power Rangers?" He asked. She just nodded.
"Rest assured, Mr Mayor, once the system goes active, we will have the most elite force on the planet, backed by weapons technology the likes of which the world has never seen ready to defend it." She assured him. "Nate, perhaps the Mayor would like to see some of the weapons?"
In the corner, Devon just sighed as he saw them begin to give his dad a tour. Never mind the fact he now wasn't going to get to see the simulator, now he was wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this room.