Rangers: 25 R.R.
Episode 4: The Mission
"This is it guys" Joseph said as he turned to his friends "last chance to change your minds and go home. After this, there's no turning back"
"Joseph is right" Zordon cautioned "Once you've accepted these gifts, it will become your sole responsibility to fight evil in whatever form it may take and free this world from the clutches of Rita Repulsa and her minions."
Everyone took only the briefest of moments to consider what had been said, Spike was the first to break the silence.
"look, you had me at super heroes." he said smiling.
"All I've ever wanted to do was help people," Rachele repeated herself from the previous night "this is my chance to do that in the biggest way possible."
"I'm not letting these guys anywhere near my family" Shelton stepped forward "My dad has looked after us my whole life, now it's my turn."
"I think it goes without saying that I'm all in." Joseph said, turning to face Zordon.
"And you Jennifer?" Zordon asked "Will you accept the burden?"
Jennifer hesitated for a moment, appearing to be lost in her thoughts. After several seconds, she snapped out of it and approached he friends, pulling an old photograph out of her sweater pocket.
"I took this picture from my mom's old things in our basement" She pointed at the picture "it was taken when she was the same age we are now. That's my mom, on the left of center" She continued to point "and the guy in the middle… Is my dad"
Everyone raised their eye brows at this, Jennifer had never mentioned her dad before accept to say he had been gone since she young.
"The putties took him away when I was only five, my mom and I haven't seen or heard from him since. I know I'll probably never see him again, I'm not doing this hoping to find him." She took a deep breath before continuing "I'm doing this to make sure nothing like that ever happens to anyone else ever again. I don't ever want another family to be ripped apart because of THAT WITCH!"
Jennifer had tears in her eyes, it was all she could do to keep herself from a full-on melt down. Everything she had been feeling for the last few days suddenly came rushing to the surface and she made no effort to old it in any longer. Joseph put his hand on her shoulder, Shelton placed his hand on her other shoulder and Rachele embraced her in a sisterly hug. Spike stood there, some-what awkwardly, then everyone turned to face him.
"Look, I know what it's like" He said as he fidgeted with the chains on his torn jeans "Having just one parent and not knowing where the other one is, it's rough. But, I'm… here for ya. Ya know, if you need to talk." Spike was now scratching his head with nervousness, it was clear that this was far removed for the "Bad Boy" persona he always tried to portray.
Jennifer smiled and embraced Spike in a tight hug which made him feel both uncomfortable but also fuzzy inside. After the teens had their moment, they all turned to Zordon, standing in a line.
"We're all in Zordon" Joseph declared "What do we do first?"
"Then it is time for you to receive your Power Morphers. Alpha, if you please" Zordon directed Alpha 5.
"Right Zordon" Alpha said cheerily as he began to pass out the morphers.
"Joseph, Powerful and Bold" Zordon began as each teen received their morpher "You shall be the Red Ranger and Leader of the team. Spike, you are brave and cleverer than you let on, you shall be the Black ranger. Rachele, Graceful and smart, you are the Pink Ranger. Jennifer, patient and wise, the power of the Blue Ranger shall be yours. Shelton, you are Fearless and strong, you will serve as the Yellow Ranger."
"So, do we wear the costumes under our regular cloths all the time or just keep them hidden in our closet? Where are the suits anyway?" Shelton asked, pointing to the now empty Display cases on the back wall.
"That's the cool part" Jennifer said, sounding excited for the first time "all we have to do is hold the morphers out in front of us and call out the name of our dinosaurs. The suits will just appear on us and we'll be instantly ready for a fight."
"Okay, that is cool" Shelton said nodding his head "but what do the outfits look like? That is what you were doing all night last night… right?"
Everyone rolled their eyes at Shelton's vain question but Jennifer seemed happy to answer, she was very enthusiastic about all the technology that now surrounded them and he opportunity to learn more about it.
"Trust me, you'll like it" she answered Shelton.
"And now Rangers" Zordon began again "You must learn the three rules of being a Power Ranger. First, never use your powers for personal gain. Second, you must never reveal your identity or Rita would surely begin to come after your loved ones. Finally, never escalate a fight, unless Rita forces you to."
The Rangers stood in silence for a moment, then Joseph asked the question that was on all of their minds.
"Zordon, if we are starting a revolution, if we are the first to begin his rebellion, we will have to attack first… Won't we?"
"You are correct Joseph" Zordon lowered his head, as though he was almost ashamed of what he was about to say. "In the past, the power was meant only as a means to defend the weak and protect the innocent but… With the situation being what it is, I'm afraid we will have to forgo the third rule on many occasions to come."
"None of us are doing this to pick a fight" Joseph said reassuringly "all we want, is to make our world a better place."
"I am very glad to hear this Rangers, I am convinced that Alpha and I have chosen this new team well." Zordon said as he smiled at his new team of Rangers "and now, I believe it is time for our 1st mission to begin."
Alpha moved back to the main control console and began to press buttons which brought up the image of the space ships he had shown them two nights earlier.
"This is one of Rita's war ship productions plants" Alpha began to explain "there are several around the globe but this is her primary Facility. Our goal is to destroy it and all of the ships that are still docked there."
"Will that stop her from launching her invasion into space?" Joseph asked.
"Not all at once" Alpha replied "but it will slow her progress considerably, giving us time to select and destroy another strategic target."
"Okay" Shelton interrupted "I get that it's important to keep Rita from going into space and taking over other planets, but what about kicking her butt here so our planet doesn't have to put up with her anymore?"
"That is, of course, one of our goals" Zordon began "but in order to achieve complete success in this endeavor, we must accomplish many things at once and unfortunately, it will take time."
Shelton nodded his head in acknowledgement, then turned his attention back to the monitor. "Alright, so how do we blow this stuff up? That place is pretty big, right?"
"Correct" Alpha began again "in fact, the facility is miles across and it would take an explosion of significant force to destroy the entire thing. That is why we are only going to destroy two sections, the hanger bays where the completed ships are housed and the primary forge, where all of the raw materials that go into the construction of the ships are stored and processed. This way, not only do we diminish the size of her fleet thus far, but the facility itself becomes useless until Rita's minions can affect repairs, which will take time."
"So How do we blow it up" Spike asked.
Alpha walked over to the darkened archway where the Rangers had found him two nights earlier. After a moment, he returned with what looked like two digital clocks in his hands.
"These" Alpha explained "are detonators. They will trigger an explosion large enough to destroy the targets.
"Bombs!" Spike was suddenly very excited "We're going to use bombs, that's awesome!"
"These particular devices" Zordon interjected "Are not standard Power Ranges equipment. They are typically used by interstellar terrorists and pirates but our circumstances being what they are, they will serve our needs."
"Alright, what's the plan?" Joseph asked.
Alpha moved back to the main control panel, laid the detonators on the panel, pressed a few buttons and pulled up an image on the monitor that consisted of lots of green lines. He then began to explain the plain to disable the facility.
"First, I'll teleport you in here" he was pointing near the center of the image on the round monitor "it should be right between the two targets. Once you're on the ground, you will split into two teams and plant the detonators simultaneously. After you've armed them, meet back at the teleportation site for extraction."
"Why can't you get us out from when we are? Rachele asked.
"There is a risk" Alpha explained "that Teleporting you out in close proximity to the detonator once it's active could set them off prematurely, which could interrupt the teleportation sequence and cause you to be severely injured."
"Oh…" Rachele's eyes had widened a bit "Thank you."
"How do the explosives work?" Jennifer asked Alpha.
"Right this way" Alpha motioned for Jennifer to join him at the main control panel so he could explain the mechanisms.
"So," Spike asked aloud "do we Morph now or after we get there?"
"As Alpha has explained" Zordon began "it is our hope to send you in and bring you back as quickly as possible. So long as everything goes according to plan, you will be able to avoid a confrontation and there will be no need to morph."
"Oh…" Spike dipped his head a bit, disappointed.
"Remember rangers" Zordon added "While our situation demands that we go on the offensive from time to time, you should avoid using your power except for under the direst of circumstances."
"But Zordon" Joseph asked Zordon directly with a look of concern "We'll need to hide our faces. If we're spotted, they could find out who we are and come after us and our families."
"Alpha and I are aware of the risks and we are prepared, Alpha if you please…" Zordon directed alpha.
"Right Zordon" Alpha said enthusiastically and pressed several keys on the control panel.
There was a brief glow from the back wall of the power chamber and the Rangers turned around to see that the display cases where the Ranger uniforms had been, were now filled with five black suits. Each suit had the same esthetic pattern as the Ranger uniforms, Diamonds across the chest, wrists and ankles. Instead of the solid white color however, the diamonds were represented by a simple outline in the color of the individual Rangers. The helmets were also different, not detailed with dinosaur features but plain, sleek and smaller than their multi-colored counterparts with no mouth piece and a simple slim visor across the eyes in the particular color of the Ranger wearing it. The suits were lightly padded around the wrist, elbow, shins and knees and had more of a rubbery appearance as opposed to the look of spandex on the traditional Ranger suits.
"These…" Zordon began "are your tactical stealth suits, designed just for the kind of mission you are about to embark on."
"I'm quite proud of these," Alpha proclaimed "the visors are armed with night vision, info red, a zoom capability which allows them to function as binoculars and a GPS which allows me to feed points of interests into your helmets." Alpha had now moved to the display case to point at the different features of the new suits. "The suits are also lightly armored which should provide moderate protection should you encounter putties or another of Rita's low-level minions."
"Okay…" Shelton was grinning "that's pretty badass. So, do we wear them under our cloths all the time or… what?"
"If you take a look at your morphers" Alpha explained "you will find two buttons opposite one another, the one on the right is for your primary Ranger form and the one the left will be for the new stealth suits. Just press that button and your suits will appear on you instantly just like your Ranger uniforms."
"Alright then" Joseph began "Jen, do you have the detonator figured out?"
"Yeah" Jennifer responded "I'll be able to show you guys how to set the timer before we split up."
"Okay then, are we ready to do this?" Joseph asked aloud.
All of the Rangers nodded their heads in agreement and reached down for their morphers which were resting on the Rangers waist as belt buckles. They clicked in the button on the left and were suddenly in a shroud of what looked like millions of black specks, the specks were getting closer together and being pulled to the Rangers like magnets until the Stealth suits appeared to reverse dissolve onto the Rangers.
"Awesome!" Spike couldn't hold in his excitement "This is so awesome!"
"It feels so warm and cozy." Rachele felt like she could fall asleep in the suit.
"Aw Yeah" Shelton was admiring himself "I could definitely get used to this."
"How were you able to fit all these visual modes in this one small helmet?" Jennifer was fidgeting with her visor.
"Okay Alpha" Joseph said "I think we're as ready as we'll ever be"
"Very well then," Alpha then handed the detonators to Jennifer and Joseph. "I'll be sending you in relatively between the two targets. Once you're on the ground, split up and make your way to the targets, plant the detonators, then meet back at the teleportation site for extraction. I'll program the location of the targets into your visors, just follow it like a compass."
"Thanks Alpha" Joseph placed his now gloved hand in Alpha's brass shoulder "we'll do our best."
Alpha moved back to the main control panel and began pressing buttons again.
"Remember Rangers" Zordon said "Do your best to stay in cover and complete the mission without a direct confrontation but if the need arises, do whatever is necessary to defend yourselves."
"We understand," Joseph said, looking side to side at his teammates "let's do this."
"Good luck Rangers and May the Power Protect you." Zordon said as Alpha pressed the final key on the control panel and with that, the New Power Rangers Disappeared in a flash of multicolored light.
The Rangers appeared beside an old brick building with wires and pipes protruding from the side of the brick wall and being redirected into the ground. The building was very large, full of high windows and ground level windows to the basement. At a distance of what appeared to be several hundred yards was another larger building that the team could only assume was the hanger bay.
"That must be the hanger bay guys" Joseph was pointing across the runway "one of the markers in my visor is pointing right at it."
"He's right" Jennifer chimed in "The other marker is pointing toward this building and down, I think the forge is underground."
"Oh, fantastic" Shelton moaned "I really felt like climbing stairs tonight."
"Ok guys" Joseph began, ignoring Shelton's complaining "first, Jen is going to show us how to arm the Detonators, then we split up. Spike and Rachele, you guys will take out the Hanger. Me, Jennifer and Shelton will head down to the forge, we'll meet back here once the bombs are in place, deal?"
Everyone nodded in agreement and huddled together so Jennifer could explain how to arm the explosives. Once they were sure they knew how the devices worked, the Rangers split up into their respective sub-groups and headed for their targets. Spike and Rachele headed across the run ways, trying to keep low to the ground, while Shelton, Jennifer and Joseph used one of the ground level windows to enter the basement of the brick building. The three found themselves in what must have been a storage room, there were boxes and barrels lining the walls with rows of shelves running through the middle of the room.
"Let's have a look" Joseph was tearing into one of the boxes.
"What do ya got?" Shelton asked as he peered through an open door on the other side of the room.
"Looks like machine parts" Joseph replied as he rummaged through the box "how about the barrels Jen?"
Jennifer popped the lid off of one of the barrels "Smells like Gasoline but it's green."
"Green Gas?" Shelton remarked as he continued to keep watch through the door "What makes it different from regular gas?"
"Not a question we can answer right now," Joseph responded "come on. The marker is still pointing down, the forge must be further under-ground, is the coast clear Shelton?"
"Yeah, we're good." Shelton was now sticking his whole upper torso out the door to take a full look around.
"Ok, lets' move." Joseph motioned for Jennifer to follow him and Shelton out of the room.
The three Rangers crept out of the room into a dimly light walkway, the markers on their visors were pointing to the left and he rangers followed. They moved slowly down the hall, careful not to make audible footsteps. There was nothing particularly interesting about the walk way, concrete floor and walls with florescent lights hanging from the ceiling.
"Has anyone put any thought into what we do next?" Shelton asked aloud.
"Plant the bomb, set the timer, regroup with the others." Jennifer responded, matter-of-factly.
"No, after that, after this mission." Shelton turned around and faced his team mates "What's the next mission? And the one after that, how do we actually win this, I mean, there are five of us and Rita has a planet full of soldiers, how do we beat that?"
"You're bringing this up now?" Jennifer was looking back and forth between Shelton and Joseph.
"I thought we were all good with this?" Joseph said, trying to hide his uncertainty in how to handle this situation.
"No, no, I'm all in" Shelton started again "I just don't see how we can do much more than annoy her with missions like this."
"Look, I get it. The truth is, I have no idea how we're gona do this" Joseph saw no alternative other than to be honest with Shelton "but I really believe we can do it, we just have to take it one step at a time and figure it out as we go, deal?"
Shelton hesitated for a moment, then raised his head to look Joseph in the visor "Deal, sorry guys. Bad timing, I know."
Joseph pated Shelton on the shoulder "No worries man, now let's blow this place to high hell."
"Can we please?" Jennifer was ready to get a move on.
The three resumed their way down the hall and soon came to a flight of metal grate stairs that went further down into the basement. The marker in their visors appeared to pointing down the stairs so, down they went. As they proceeded down the stairs, the temperature grew steadily warmer and an orange glow started to emanate from the bottom of the stair case. The room they now found themselves in was huge, probably spanning the width of the entire of building and was full of boxes, barrels, crates pallets. The three rangers began investigating the contents of the various containers.
"More of that green Gasoline over here" Jennifer had popped open one of the barrels.
"Crates are full black rocks" Shelton said aloud from a stack of crates a few feet away.
"let me see that" Joseph walked over to join Shelton at the crate he'd pried open. "that's coal, my dad mines this stuff at the quarry along with a bunch of other rocks and minerals.
"They burn coal for fuel, right? So, this is what their using to fuel the forge." Shelton suggested.
"That's my guess too" Joseph replied.
"Guys, look at this!" Jennifer had torn open the plastic wrap that insolated the contents of the pallets.
Joseph and Shelton hurried over to the pallet Jennifer was investigating to see a large device full of buttons, knobs, dials and switches. they also observed several points on the machine that looked to be a port for a hose to be attached.
"What… is… This?" Shelton asked, circling the device.
"I think it's… an engine" Jennifer replied, studying the various controls. "Or part of an engine, at least."
"What makes you think that?" Joseph asked her.
"Look at these dials, they all have to do with fuel regulation and proportions." Jennifer explained as she pointed to the dials "I think this machine regulates the flow of fuel with-in the engine of the starships Rita is building."
"Great, now that we've worked that out, we can still blow them up along with the rest of this place." Shelton said, circling back around the machine.
"This might come in handy later Jen, Good work" Joseph said, then turned back to Shelton and the machine "but for now, Shelton is right. All of this stuff is going up in flames"
"I know, you're right" Jennifer agreed "we should head that way, the glow is brighter down there, that's where we'll find the primary forge." She was pointing to the far end of the basement.
"Aright, lead the way" Joseph extended his arm to invite Jennifer to take the lead.
Jennifer lead her team mates across the basement, pass more boxes, barrels and crates. the further they walked, the warmer… The hotter it got. Before long, an assortment of pipes and nozzles came into view, running along the ceiling. There was steam spewing out of several week points in the pipes and condensation dripping from the nozzles. The various containers were becoming more frequent and a conveyor belt had come into view, the belt was inactive, there didn't appear to be any sign of activity.
"This belt probably brings raw materials to the forge to be processed" Jennifer pointed out "the workers load the coal onto the belt to be brought to the forge and burned as fuel."
"Ok, question." Shelton chimed in "Why haven't we seen anyone or anything?"
"What do you mean?" Jennifer asked, puzzled.
"I mean, where is every one?" Shelton replied, stopping in his tracks "We've seen no workers, no putties, this place doesn't even look like it's running."
"Shelton has a point" Joseph began "this place should be crawling with putties and a work force, which begs another question…"
"What?" Shelton and Jennifer asked in unison.
"If we blow this place, aren't innocent people going to get caught in the blast?" Joseph asked, with concern in his voice.
Shelton and Jennifer didn't answer, they hadn't considered this. The three stood in silence for a moment, none of them wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, Alpha 5's voice from inside their helmets broke the silence.
"Rangers, can you hear me?" Alpha asked "there is a small button just behind your visor on the left, press and hold it to respond and speak to me."
"Alpha, can you hear me" Joseph asked, now pressing the button alpha had described to them.
"Yes, I read you Joseph. How is the mission progressing?" Alpha asked.
"Shelton, Jennifer and I are near the forge. Spike and Rachele should be nearing the Hanger if they haven't already gotten there." Joseph responded
"Excellent!" Alpha said with excitement "Remember once the timer is set, return to the teleportation sight for extraction."
"Hold on Alpha" Joseph stopped him "There could be a problem."
"What is it Rangers?" Alpha asked with confusion.
"The workers here" Shelton answered in Josephs place "we haven't seen them or any putties but they have to be here somewhere. If we blow this place up, isn't someone going to get hurt?"
"One moment Rangers" Alpha was now pressing buttons and turning knobs "I'll scan for human life signs in the facilities."
There was a brief pause during which all three Rangers considered to themselves what the next move should be. If there was no one in the area, they could proceed as planned and be done with the place but if there was even a single person nearby, would they have to find that person and get them out first or would they abandon the mission all together and return to the power chamber? These and other questions were racing through the Rangers minds when alpha finally responded back to them.
"We're in luck Rangers" Alpha said, gleefully "the entire workforce appears to be concentrated in another building on the grounds, outside of the blast radius of the detonators."
"That explains where the putties are too" Joseph said aloud "they're probably guarding the workers."
"What are they doing there? And how long do you think we have?" Jennifer aske Alpha.
"I can't say for certain, but my guess is they are being subjected to more of Rita's propaganda." Alpha answered "As for how long they will remain there, there is really no way for me to know."
"That means we need to get a move on," Joseph declared. "we'll be back in touch shortly Alpha, come on guys, let move."
The three Rangers now took off in a dead sprint further into the basement, following the pipes on the ceiling. It didn't take long before they found what they had been looking for and he team stood before a gigantic furnace.
"Ok, lets plant the bomb and bounce" Shelton said, breathing heavily.
"Wait!" Jennifer stopped him "We need to put it in just the right place" and she began fiddling with the visual setting on her visor.
"What are you fooling with, girl?" Shelton asked, tapping his foot "You heard Alpha, we don't have all night."
"I'm using the infrared to find the hottest spot on the furnace" Jennifer explained "hotter means more fuel concentrated in that area, more fuel means bigger explosion."
"Oh…" Shelton felt like a dunce "Makes sense I guess."
"Over there," Jennifer pointed "where the conveyor empties into the forge."
The team hustled to the conveyor and swept away some debris to give Jennifer a solid place to plant the explosive, she placed the device underneath the conveyor belt and set the timer.
"Ten minutes guys?" Jennifer asked as she set the timer.
"Yeah" Joseph replied "that should be plenty of time to get out and put some distance between us and this building"
"ten minutes…" Shelton sounded a tad nervous "isn't that cutting it a bit close?"
"It's plenty of time," Joseph explained "we don't have to sneak out, there aren't any guards. We just hurry out the door."
"Good point, good point." Shelton conceded "Could have set it for fifteen for good measure but it's cool."
"All set," Jennifer was standing up from where she placed the detonator "It's counting down, let's get out of here."
The three wasted no time in running full speed back to the stare case they had descended earlier, they climbed the stairs back to the baron hallway which lead them back to the storage room. They entered the room and found the window they'd climbed in through, then hoisted each other up back through the window.
"Guys, Guys can you hear me?" Spikes whispered voice was now coming in through their helmets.
"Spike, it's Joseph, I can here you." Joseph replied as Jennifer helped Shelton by pulling him out of the window."
"Hey, um… You guys busy?" Spike asked, nervously.
"We just planted our explosive and we're on our way to meet you guys." Joseph responded back "Why? Everything ok?"
"Well… We've got our bomb planted but…" Spike trailed off.
"But what?" Jennifer asked, having successfully pulled Shelton through the window.
"We're cut off from our exit and our bomb is going to blow in fourteen minutes!" Rachele was now responding.
"Oh crap…" Shelton said, standing up from the window.
"We're on our way, hang tight guys!" with that, Joseph and the others took off a dead sprint across the run way, desperately trying to reach their friends in time.
"Alpha, it's Jennifer. Can you her me" Jennifer radioed out.
"I hear you Rangers, and I've been monitoring" Alpha responded.
"Can you teleport the others out or us in?" Joseph asked, winded.
"I'm afraid not, it's too close to the detonator, the electro charge of the teleportation could set off the explosion prematurely."
"Ok, I got you" Joseph replied, out of ideas.
"Alpha, can you feed Spike and Rachele's position into our visors?" Jennifer asked, thinking quickly.
"An excellent idea!" Alpha replied with enthusiasm "Sending you the corrodents now."
Two more markers appeared in the Ranger's visors, indicating Spike and Rachele's position.
"We've got them, Thanks Alpha." Joseph said, as the three continued to sprint.
"Ok, next mission I'm pairing up with Spike," Shelton said, breathlessly "so I can keep an eye on his ass."
Spike and Rachele were on board one of the ships near the center of the hanger bay, hiding in a maintenance shaft in the engine section of the ship, in exactly the spot where they had planted the explosive. They were hiding from several patrols of putties that had entered the hanger just as the two were on their way out, having already planted the bomb, forcing them to retreat back into the ship. The two Rangers thought that perhaps they could fight their way out and would have given it a shot had it not been for the sheer number of putties… And the monster.
"What the Hell is that?" Spike asked in a whispered, high pitched voice.
"I have no idea…" Rachele replied, also whispering.
"It looks like a wood pecker" Spike observed.
To Be Continued…