Commander Shaw could only take to the stage as the entire staff of the base started to evacuate the building. The alarms and the fact the building was steadily emptying were not exactly the first impression she was hoping for during the inaugural launch of the Morph-X system to say the least. The press was clamouring to try and see if they could see inside the building, but were being held back by security. Mayor Daniels was still at the podium, looking genuinely concerned.
"What the devil is happening?" He demanded as she got to the stage.
"It's…it's a minor problem, I'm quite sure." She said as confidently, but with as little commitment to detail as she could muster. Sadly, she was no stranger to public relations. She'd been an officer now for many years, and sadly a significant part of the job was getting inquiries by the press. Like any institution, the Armed Forces were prone to scrutiny, speculation and complaints. Unlike most however, the nature of their existence meant they carried with them a lot of responsibility to the public trust. She still wasn't completely clear on what was going on herself, all she knew was that something had happened when Nate began the process to morph the Rangers for the first time. There was little point in trying to engage in details, partly because she simply didn't have them to share, and partly because right now she didn't know if the evacuation was just a precaution or if something more serious had happened. She took the microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, there appears to have been an unforeseen complication with the system. Please try to remain calm, our team is working to find the cause as we speak."
The press started to crowd, trying to get her to say more, but Commander Shaw knew much better than to say more than she absolutely needed to until she knew what was going on herself.
"Commander Shaw…
"Mr Mayor, it is standard procedure for non-essential personnel to be evacuated if the alarm system is triggered." She told him. "I'm perfectly certain my team is working on this as we speak. Now, if you could please step behind the cordon, I'm sure we'll have this under control soon."
"I certainly hope so." Mayor Daniels told her.
He didn't need to say anything further for her to realise the gravity of the situation. She got onto her communicator once he was out of earshot.
"Commander Shaw to control room, come in." She called out. It worried her that no one was quick to answer. "COME IN!"
Down in the lab, Ravi was starting to stir and come around. Every inch of his body ached, like he'd been given the hardest workout of his life. He could recall the blinding light and the searing agony as energy raced through him, but shortly after that his vision just blacked out.
Though his head was still fuzzy, and his vision and his hearing were still struggling to catch up, he could make out very distinctive sounds of combat. He could hear a faint voice; it was coming from…his wrist. His communicator.
"This is Commander Shaw, come in!" She called out. He considered answering, but as he saw the two armoured assailants, laying waste to the lab as they fought with two people he was struggling to recognise, he figured that his priority was to the immediate threat. One of the armoured beings was attacking a woman who was wearing a Grid Battleforce uniform…that answered one question, which side he was on!
He could see Zoey wrestling with Roxy a little way off, while Devon was being battered from pillar to post by Blaze. He had read the schematics and knew that the Ranger rigs, together with the genetic enhancements, boosted the physical attributes of the users beyond the range of human potential. Given the fact that the Ranger program had been designed to weed out the very best, those that were already at the peak of their abilities, that meant that Zoey and Devon were hopelessly outmatched. They were holding their own, but that was to say that they were able to avoid being killed within the first few seconds.
"Ravi!" Nate called out, starting to pull himself out of some rubble. "Ravi, help the others!"
"Nate, what the hell is going on?" Ravi asked in response.
"No time to explain, just…help them!" Nate replied. Ravi just nodded, and broke cover to run in to help Devon, seeing that he was in most need of the help.
Nate rummaged around, trying desperately to see if any of his equipment worked and to see if he could find out what was going on. He knew that this virus, Evox, had entered his system, but he still didn't know what it was or how it was progressing. Finding one of the computers still active, he checked for it.
"It's still in…that computer!" Nate said as he looked around the room. Evox seemed to be concentrating on the battle at hand, and hadn't sought to upload himself to other systems. It was the first lucky break Nate could see. If he uploaded himself to a system with access to the internet, then there'd be no stopping him from going pretty much anywhere. It would be impossible to contain him.
He picked up a blaster and started to fire in the direction of the computer, aiming for the cables. He managed to blast them, severing them, meaning that for now at least Evox was going nowhere. The avatars could link him back up once they were finished with the others, but at least it bought them a couple of minutes.
He turned his attention back to the fight, hoping that he hadn't sacrificed the others while he was trying to trap Evox. They were all still in the fight, but it was clear that the avatars simply were far too powerful. He furrowed his brows as he watched them, noticing something odd.
"They have access to their weapons…why aren't they using them?" He asked himself. He watched as Blaze kicked Devon across the room, where he skidded straight into the wall.
"You really don't learn your lesson, do you?" He said in a mocking laugh as he started to walk towards him, gesturing to him to get up. "Are you done? I was just starting to have fun!"
He looked over to where Roxy was grappling with Zoey, slamming her into a table repeatedly. It then became clear to him; they were toying with them! It was like they were enjoying playing with the Rangers. If they wanted, they could easily finish them. Did they still have elements of the personality of the people they replicated? If they were simply machines or computer programs, they would have fought in the most efficient way possible, but right now they were far more interested in hurting and humiliating his friends.
His mind raced as he tried to think of ways to turn the battle. There was little in the room he could think of that would be effective against the avatars. Most of the weapons racks had been obliterated in the earlier blasts. He watched in horror as Roxy's avatar fired out cables, which wrapped around the others, binding them and then started to throw them around the room. There was no way they could take this much longer. That was when he saw the pods. They were still intact. He checked the system and saw they were still active. It was a desperate plan, but if he could just power them…
"Commander Shaw, this is Nate!" He called through. "I need your authorisation to access the Morph-X tower." He told her.
"Nate, what's going on?" She asked him.
"I need you to flood Morph-X through the transformation pods!" He told her.
"You want me to do what?" She called back. "Nate, what are you…?"
"I don't have time to explain! You'll need to trust me!" He told her. This was enough for her, she had always trusted Nate implicitly when it came to the technical aspects of the base. She input her authorisation code.
"I'm beginning the dump now." She told him. "That's enough Morph-X to turn the whole city into a crater. I really hope you know what you're doing!"
"So do I." He whispered, being sure not to broadcast that part. He saw Roxy slamming them all into the floor, before whipping them towards the pods. He doubted he'd have a better opportunity. Blasting a piece of machinery above them, it came down, severing the cables and causing Zoey, Devon and Ravi to tumble into the pods. Fearing he probably wouldn't get a better opportunity, he punched in the final commands and started up the pods.
Inside, Devon felt himself being held in place by an unseen force, before a wave of warm energy flowed through him. He could feel every muscle in his body pulling taut, and stretching, though not painfully. Like a tremendous workout, but so much more. He could almost swear he could feel every fibre of his being stretching and growing, getting stronger with each passing moment. There was a flash of blinding light, and when he was finally able to see again, he could see but not as before. He was looking through some kind of visor, and there was text coming up, like a heads-up display in one of his first-person shooters. He stumbled a little, trying to get his orientation.
"What…what just happened?" He asked as he tried to make sense of it all.
"Don't look now but…you're the Red Ranger!" Zoey announced. Devon looked down to himself, seeing that he was now in a red bodysuit. He stared at his hands, which he brought to his head, running them over a helmet.
"This is…this is wild!" He commented.
"NATE!" Zoey called out, seeing that Roxy going after Nate. She pushed off, hoping to get to him before she could strike, but she was startled as without warning, she and Roxy were slamming into the wall at the opposite side of the lab. She turned around to see that she had somehow leapt over twenty feet without even realising it. "Wow…OK, this is something else!"
Devon saw Blaze turning back towards him, and started to run towards him, but before he even knew what was happening he was on the opposite side of the room, and Blaze had turned a full back-somersault as a result of the attack Devon had hit him with on the way. He smiled.
"Guys, I think the odds on the good guys just looked up!" Devon stated.
"That's what you think!" Blaze replied as he got up, summoning a sword to his hand. He rushed at Devon, catching him completely flat-footed, slicing across his chest. Sparks flew as the suits power prevented Blaze from cutting him clean in half, doubtlessly sparing his life. As Ravi rushed in to stop him pressing the advantage, Devon took a moment to take stock. He could see that even with their new power, Roxy and Blaze were dangerous opponents.
"This lab, we're too hemmed-in." Devon commented.
"The door's sealed. The others will have to release us from outside." Nate told him.
"Listen, we need some space or we're all just going to tear each other apart!" Devon responded. That was when he noticed something on the floor. He picked it up, inspecting it. While he hadn't been paying too much attention, he did remember Nate explaining to his dad how transport modules could teleport the Rangers' equipment to them, demonstrating it by teleporting a sword into his hand. He looked to Nate. "Do these only transport the weapons or can they transport other things too?"
"What?" Nate asked.
"Look, sometimes it's best to just run out on a boss fight, to leave the fight area and come back once you've levelled up!" Devon said. Nate just stared at him blankly. "We need space, can these things get us out of here?"
"Yes, but if those avatars link the supercomputer up to the net then there'll be nothing to stop Evox from uploading himself to the internet. He'll have unlimited space to hide in, there'll be no way to stop him!" Nate replied, before a thought came to him. "But…what if we didn't send ourselves out? What if we sent them out instead?"
"That could work." Devon responded. "OK, what do we do?"
"I'll program in a location. Anywhere will do as long as it's not anywhere near here!" Nate told him. "You and the others just need to set up three of these around the room to transport that computer and the avatars out of here."
"Alright, on it!" Devon responded. He grabbed one of the transport units and ran to the other side of the room, setting it up near a wall while Nate worked on a location. "YELLOW! I'll take your dance partner, set up another one of these over there!"
Zoey had no idea what Devon was doing, but she had seen him talking to Nate, and she trusted that he knew what he was doing at least. As he rushed over, forcing Roxy to defend herself, Zoey looked around and saw another transport unit. She leapt over to it, before leaping into the air, catching some rigging high above them. She started to set it up.
"I'm all set over here!" Zoey. She positioned herself on the scaffold. "RAVI! DUCK!"
She leapt straight towards Blaze, sacrificing herself as Ravi ducked, letting her slam head-first right into them, scattering both of them on the floor. Ravi picked up another transport unit and seeing what the others had been doing, he held it in place, positioning it to face them.
Devon ducked under Roxy's attack and rushed, grabbing Zoey and dragging her to safety, inelegantly rolling to the relative safety of the side of the room.
"Alright, hit it NOW!" He called out. Nate fired up the transporters, which blasted Roxy, Devon and the computer. In a flash of light, they all disappeared, leaving the lab in ruins. Devon, Zoey, Ravi and Nate all finally got up, looking around.
"Well, that was…something." Devon said breathlessly.
"We're alive." Zoey reminded him. "For now, I say we take that as a win. Nate, where did you send them to?"
"I sent them to another dimension." Nate explained. "I wanted to give us as much time and space before they returned as possible."
He looked regretfully to the computer, which was now smoking and badly damaged from the blast.
"Sadly, I didn't note down the co-ordinates." He told them. "Without that computer and without the co-ordinates, we can't pursue them."
"Right now, pursuing them is the last thing on my mind." Devon assured them, heading to the door and finding it still firmly sealed shut.
Ravi went over to where Roxy's lifeless body was still lying on the ground, de-morphing as he went. He started to check over her frantically, trying to revive her.
"Roxy?" He asked. "Roxy, can you hear me?"
She didn't respond.
"Nate, I can't bring her round!" Ravi called out. Nate checked on her, before getting onto his communicator.
"Commander Shaw, the situation in the lab is now contained." He told her. "Bring an emergency medical team."
"Nate, what happened?" She asked him. He just let out a long, deep breath.
"I…think it's best I explain in person." He told her. "It's a little difficult."
"A security team and a medical unit will be with you shortly." She told him. "Hold tight."
Zoey de-morphed and went to Ravi's side, putting a hand on his shoulder as he cradled Roxy in his arms. Devon went over to where Nate was standing.
"Um…while we're waiting." He said as he looked to his morpher. "As cool as these suits are? How in the hell do you get them off?"
About an hour later, the Rangers were in the infirmary with Commander Shaw. It had taken quite some time for them to explain what had happened in the lab. Mainly because there were still a lot of questions no one knew the answer to. They knew Evox was a virus, but they had no idea where it had come from. All they knew was that it was seeking to take over the Morphing Grid and claim the power of Morph-X for itself.
The tech team was still trying to decide what they could salvage from the wreckage of the battle, but that wasn't the main concern right now. They were in the infirmary by some life-support pods where Roxy and Blaze had been placed to monitor them.
The medics had tried everything they could to revive them, but nothing worked, and they were quickly running out of ideas that wouldn't potentially risk their lives. They were in kind of a strange limbo it seemed, where they were alive and their vitals were steady but there was nothing that could rouse them or get any kind of reaction out of them. Nate was now scanning their brain functions to see if he could find any answers.
"They're alive." He told them as he finished with his analysis. "Their higher brain functions are completely unimpaired, there's no sign of damage but their readings register as though they're in a deep sleep."
"They're just sleeping?" Zoey asked him. "Is she…are they…in pain?" He just shook his head.
"As near as I can tell they're both perfectly healthy otherwise, but they're just asleep." Nate explained.
"Then what about those things we fought?" Devon asked. "I mean, without the helmets they looked just like them. And I don't know Roxy but Blaze? That kind of seemed a lot like the guy I fought at the gym."
"Well, it was but…it wasn't at the same time." Zoey said, trying to reason it out in her mind. "Blaze is…not the greatest of people in the world, but it's not like he's ever outright tried to murder anyone before."
"That's not what it felt like at the gym." Devon sighed, before looking to them. "Yeah, I get what you mean. He kicked my ass, but he was happy to just beat the shit out of me. He wasn't trying to kill me or anything."
"It's kind of like someone took the worst parts of them and kind of turned the dial up all the way." Zoey concluded. Nate nodded in agreement.
"They're avatars." He explained. "I managed to get a little data from the recordings in the lab. They're not biological creatures, but digital copies of Blaze and Roxy that seemed to be based at least in part on their own psyche. It looks as if Evox has taken the parts of their minds that are most useful to him and exaggerated them."
Ravi was sitting by Roxy's pod, and could only look in on her. Commander Shaw wished she could do something to comfort him.
"They also seem to be connected to their brain waves." Nate told them. "Which means as long as the avatars are around, Blaze and Roxy will never wake up."
"So, the only way to wake them up is to destroy their avatars?" Devon asked him. Nate just nodded to confirm the detail. Commander Shaw just ran a hand over her face.
"I need to figure out what I'm going to tell their families." She sighed. "But in the meantime, there's another issue we need to figure out."
She looked to the Rangers, and then to Nate.
"So, you made new Rangers." She asked.
"I couldn't see any other way to defeat the avatars." Nate told her. "We needed the power of Rangers to defeat them."
Commander Shaw understood why he had done it, but that did leave them with something of a situation. Ravi had been selected and fully trained as a Ranger, but Devon and Zoey…they had basically just been in the right place at the right time. She stood before Zoey, who felt a little self-conscious. It wasn't so long ago that Commander Shaw had personally cut her from the program. She then went and stood before Devon. All she knew about him was that he was Mayor Daniel's son. She had no idea what, if any credentials or skills he had that would make him a suitable Ranger.
"Would I be correct in saying that now they have been altered, the process can't be undone?" She asked Nate. He just nodded. "Well, I guess that leaves us with very little choice then."
She stood before Zoey and looked into her eyes. Zoey gulped.
"It's not often we get a second chance." She began. "But I know that you'll all but kill yourself to make the most of it now you have it."
"Roxy…Roxy should be here to protect the city." Zoey told her. "But until she is, I'll serve in her place."
She then went to Devon.
"As for you, young man, you've stumbled into something that quite literally puts the world at stake." She began. "You are privy to one of the most closely guarded secrets on the planet, and you've been granted amazing power completely by chance."
"Well, this day sure as hell didn't turn out the way I expected when I woke up this morning." Devon agreed with a little bit of a chuckle. "I just wanted a shot of your simulator."
Zoey snorted a little as she struggled not to laugh. Commander Shaw shot her a glare, before looking back to Devon.
"This isn't a joke." She told him. "This is one of the most important responsibilities there is. You will have the lives of everyone in the city, perhaps even the whole world in your hands. If you don't think you can handle that, you need to tell us now."
"I'm sorry Commander." Devon replied, before looking to the others. "I might not have signed up for this, but…what I saw today is the kind of thing you can't unsee. Those things are coming back, and when they do, someone needs to be there to stop them. I'm in."