Sector 13, Bishop Residence
Metro City, Canada
April 4th, 2015
12:00 PM

"Riley Bishop"

"Come on, Sis! You've been in there for half an hour!" I said, pounding on the bathroom door.

Living with my older sister is okay. She's really nice and we get along great. It's always been that way. After our parents died, she just instinctively stepped into their shoes and has been taking care of me ever since. She's so good at it that a lot of the time, I forget she's actually my sister. She always tells me she did most of the work of raising me when I first born anyway, but I don't know if I really believe that. Sure, it's possible, considering that she was 10 when I was born, but, I think she's just bluffing to prove a point.

"Leave me alone, Riley." she said.

"You told me to keep nagging you so that we wouldn't be late." I said.

"We're not going to be late," said Amanda, "Besides, there's no way I'm going to the bank with bedhead."

"It's already noon!"

"No it isn't. I set all the clocks to be one hour fast last night."

"Why?"

"Okay, I'm lying, you know I hate it when I have to defend myself even though I'm wrong and you're right." she said.

"Just come out, I'm sure you look fiii-aaiigghh!" I said.

She had opened the door and glared at me. Her hair was fine, but why should that mean I'm not allowed to have any fun?

My sister looked like a slightly taller, younger version of our mom. Black shiny hair, green eyes and gentle face.

"My hair is fine, isn't it?" she said.

"Of course it is." I said.

"You're dead meat."

She tackled me to ground and began to tickle me furiously. Even after she had stopped, I stayed down on the ground thrashing as I waited for the effects to wear off. I'm like a wind-up car toy or something, because all it takes to get me going is a few well-aimed "attacks" to my ribs, feet or under my armpits. The only people that can actually tickle me are my sister and Rachel. I suppose my mom used to be able to do it as well, because somebody must have taught Amanda.

"Get over yourself, we don't want to be late." she said.

I'll give her some credit. In the time it took for me to calm down, she had changed into her business clothes, (which kind of made her look like a lawyer) brushed her teeth, put on make-up and even perfume. How long had I been laughing hysterically? Amanda usually wore clothes that most people her age would say make her look younger. Tattered jeans and simple t-shirts are just her style. She's both an artist and a photographer, and I figure that the whole attire started when she realized how hard it was to paint in grown up clothes. Plus, she probably kept getting them dirty.

"You mean, later than we already are?"

"Just get in the car." said Amanda.

Each sector of Metro City is roughly 20 square city blocks. Above the city is something called the Sectional Overpass. It's essentially like an interstate or a highway, only it leads to each sector. We won't need to use it to get to the bank, but you can always see it looming overhead.

There are several things that every sector of Metro City, except for Sector 0, has. They all have banks, they all have grocery stores, they all have libraries, they all have pharmacies and they all have hospitals and fire halls. All other services or buildings aren't considered to be essential, so some sectors don't have any of them, but the Overpass makes it so easy to get around that it's not an issue.

I'm not really sure why Amanda wanted me to come with her, especially on a Saturday. I didn't have any banking to do. I could be studying, kicking ass online on my GameSphere or, maybe, I don't know, finally plucking up the courage to ask Rachel out? Oh yeah, or saving the city from evil viruses. And there's another point. If a virus shows up, I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Amanda is pretty cool, but even she might have a hard time believing that I'm the Red Power Ranger.

"Why are you dressed so nice anyway?" I asked.

"Am I not allowed to do that?"

"No, of course not, it just seems like you only do it for very specific reasons," I said, "Like job interviews, big photo shoots or art showcase nights."

"People tend to judge other people on their appearances first," she said, "It's not good to do that, but that doesn't stop people. If I dress up, it makes people judge me differently."

"Men are simple," I said, "You'd probably have had just as much success wearing tank tops and short shorts."

"Well, I guess we'll find out what they like soon enough, won't we?"

Amanda is so honest with me for the most part. I might lie to her, but most of them she sees right through. That's why I didn't have to try and guess why she has wearing such nice clothes. All I have to do is ask, and she usually tells me, unless it's something I shouldn't know.

By the time we got to the bank, my newly washed clothes had a big mustard stain on it from the burger we picked up at Cosmo's.

"Honestly, Riley, do I have to carry a bib around with me for you?" she asked, obviously frustrated.

At her words I slipped my arms back into the sleeves, took the shirt off and then put it back on inside out. Since it was a plain t-shirt, you couldn't really tell the difference. It helped that my jacket covered the seams of it, too.

We arrived at the bank within about an hour. That's not so bad, except for the fact that our appointment was half an hour ago.

"I can't believe we're late again!" snapped Amanda, stumbling in her high heels as we hurried up the front steps of the bank.

"Only one of us was running late." I said.

"Yes, I know. I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at myself."

See what I mean? She's cool. The way Rachel and Marcus talk it sounds like they get blamed for a lot of things that aren't always necessarily their faults. I guess that by being a parent, you automatically get to be right even you're actually wrong. It makes no sense, especially when you're a kid, but that's just the way it works. Luckily for me, my sister isn't my parent, so she can admit when she's wrong.

"Want me to fetch your normal shoes from the car? You and I both know you can't walk in heels."

"That would defeat the whole point of dressing up nice," she said, "I've got everything under control."

She tripped two or three more times while we dashed over to the only open teller counter.

"Hi." said the Teller, whose name tag read "Lorne".

As I looked around, I saw just how not busy the bank was today. There were less than fifty people.

The purpose of Metro City was to create a large, self-contained metropolitan city. That's why it's called Metro City. Not the most creative name, but it definitely makes sense. Being a self-contained city meant that everything in it needed to be exclusive to the city. So, rather than have multiple chains of banks, there are just twenty banks from the same chain. One for each sector, excluding Sector 0, because it's not a residential area, save for all the mansions on the hills, like Silver's.

All the businesses follow the same pattern as well. There are no Wal-Marts or Safeways. No McDonalds or Burger Kings. Even things like insurance companies and cable/internet/phone/cellphone companies aren't here. If you live in Metro City, you get both of those from Metro Insurance and Metro Communications respectively. Personally, I like it because it eliminates choices. Besides, everything we do have here is really great.

"Hi, we had an appointment for 1:00." said Amanda.

"Well then why weren't you here at 1:00?" he asked, very snobbishly.

"Because she takes half an hour to fix each side of her-" I said as Amanda stomped on my foot to shut me up.

"I suppose I could let it slide today," said Lorne, "But only because it's not very busy."

"Thank you. I'd really appreciate it." said Amanda.

"No problem, ma'am," said Lorne, "Head on over to the waiting room and someone will come get you when they're ready for you."

"Alright." said Amanda.

While this was going on, a disguised figure walked in. He was stomping with each step to make sure he would be seen. I could tell it was a man because he was too tall to be a woman. He was wearing a heavy jacket with a collar that obscured the lower half of his face which was already covered with a bandanna. He also had a black toque and very dark sunglasses on to further hide his identity.

The man walked up to the counter and aggressively shoved Amanda out of his way. I caught her so she wouldn't fall. The man pulled out an intricate looking gun and pointed it at Lorne's head.

"Here's how this is going to work," he growled, "Everyone in this building is now my hostage. If anybody calls the police, tries to escape, or does anything else that I don't like, I will open fire."

"Sir, if you're here for money, I'd be happy to lead you to the vaults." whimpered Lorne.

"I don't need money," chuckled the Man, "I'm not some petty bank robber."

"Then what are you?" asked Lorne.

"A loyal servant." said the Man.

"A loyal servant of who?" asked Lorne.

He pressed the barrel of the gun against Lorne's forehead, but didn't shoot.

"That's none of your business... Lorne." he said, reading Lorne's name tag mid sentence.

"Riley... Stay behind me and don't look at him," whispered Amanda, "I'll protect you."

Sure, in a normal situation, that's exactly what I would do. But since I'm the Red Ranger, I don't need her to protect me, mind you, she doesn't know that. I felt so helpless just standing there. I could morph and save everyone, but not only would that mean revealing my revealing my secret to everyone in the bank, but it would also be breaking one the rules Silver told us when he first entrusted us with the codecs. This is something the police can deal with, so I'm not allowed to step in. Having said that, there was something kind of 'off' about this guy. He looked like a person for the most part, but yet I just couldn't shake the feeling that he was more than just what he looked like.

"But since you asked so nicely, I guess it can't hurt to tell you," said the Man, "My master has asked me to deliver a very important message to the Red Power Ranger. So let's all get comfortable, because no one is going anywhere until after I deliver my message!"

So that's what he wants. I still couldn't prove that he was a virus, but it didn't seem to make sense any other way. Why would a lowly crook use terms like 'master' or 'loyal servant'? More importantly, why would a lowly crook ever have to deliver a message to a Power Ranger? I could understand if it was a message to the police, because they're on the same level. My gut feeling was still telling me that there was something out of place. I also know that I wouldn't be able to sleep if my lack of action got anyone hurt or killed.

That's when I made up mind. I had to morph. There was no other choice. If I didn't, this life or death stalemate would go on forever. The only problem was that if I stood up, he might shoot me before I could morph. I needed a distraction.

"I think I know what he's waiting for." I said.

"What?"

"I also think… That I have a plan." I said, before she could finish her question.

"Riley, listen to me," said Amanda, "That guy is insane and dangerous. You might think you know him, but you don't, so stay here."

"I can't just sit here!"

"Yes you can, I'll even help you!" snapped Amanda, trying to anchor me with her arms.

"Please let me go! You don't understand!" I shouted.

"No, you don't understand!" she sobbed, "I'm the guardian! I'm supposed to be taking care of you! If you get hurt, it'll be my fault and they can take you away from me!"

"Calm down, okay? That's not going to happen," I said, "Like I said, I have a plan and I need you to help me pull it off."

Amanda took out a big sniff and wiped her eyes on her clothes.

"Alright…" she said, "Do what you think is best."

"I need your heels." I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Trust me."

She reached down and pulled them off her feet. Once they gone, she noticed how swollen her feet had become and began to massage them absent-mindedly.

"Remember when we used to play sock-golf?"

"Who are you kidding, we still play that." she chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever," I said, "Well, this is exactly like sock-golf, only you're throwing your shoes instead of a sock."

"I'm also not aiming at makeshift holes, like the sink."

"Right, you're aiming right over there," I said, using my fingers to demonstrate the trajectory, "Take your time, because you can only miss once."

My plan was pretty cheesy and clichéd, but I seriously doubt that anyone would notice or care if it ends up working. Amanda was going to try and hit the elaborate glass chandelier with her shoes and make it fall near the so called 'loyal servant', which would hopefully give me enough time to stand up and morph without getting shot.

It was time to initiate the plan. Normally, I never worry about whether or not they'll work, because they usually do. This time, however, if my plan didn't work, the gunman might kill us all, but, it's like that old saying; desperate times call for desperate measures. So, I crossed my fingers and nodded to Amanda. Ironically, she only knew about 75% of the plan, but telling her would waste time. Besides, it would be much more effective to show her.

Amanda took aim, with a silent, yet mighty whip of her arm, she hurled the shoe towards the chandelier. The heel did some real damage, but didn't quite break it. Before the first shoe had even begun to fall, Amanda threw the second shoe so that when they landed, the sound would be drowned out by the crashing of the chandelier. With a smirk of satisfaction, she watched in amazement as it fell.

I seized my chance and jumped to my feet. The chandelier hadn't even hit the floor yet as I rolled up my sleeve to reveal my Digitizer. The gunman had just now noticed that something was falling from the roof and therefore couldn't see me. It was now or never.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted.

With a deafening sound, the chandelier had smashed to the ground, sending several small pieces of glass flying. Some of them appeared to have hit him, because he was writhing in pain, clutching his face.

"Riley!?" gasped Amanda, "You're the-"

"Get these people out of here, now!" I yelled frantically.

Much to my relief, she gave me a look that said she understood and would expect me to explain everything later. I gave my sister the thumbs us as she began to shepherd all the hostages together and escort them towards the door.

The gunman was still in pain. I approached him apprehensively and tapped his shoulder. He turned around quickly, which made me jump a little in surprise. Now his sunglasses were off and I could see his face. Except, he didn't have one; he was a Replicator.

"That doesn't make any sense." I said.

Silver should've picked up a signal from it if it was really a Replicator.

"You're not a Replicator, they can't speak." I said.

"Very perceptive of you," it said, "I'm disguised as a Replicator and then the clothes hide my face."

"I guess your disguise also blocks your signal." I said.

"Right you are," said the Virus, "Master Trojan thought it would be easier to take down the rangers individually, so he sent me here."

With a flourish, the virus took off the remaining pieces of its disguises and thrust its arms in the air. Then a small version of the tornado that we see when we morph swallowed the virus and spat it back out in its true form. The tornado looked like crazy binary. I suppose that's what Trojan's corrupted code looks like. Silver must not have known that viruses could do this, otherwise he definitely would've told us. After seeing it's true form, I made an educated guess that it was the Firearm Virus.

"Man, you're ugly no matter what you look like!" I taunted.

"Red, don't you know it's rude to call people names?" said Green from somewhere behind me.

"That's not a person," said Yellow, "It's the newest victim of my hammer."

"Where did you all come from?" I asked.

"Silver sent us after beating himself up for a while," said Blue, "He's peeved that it took him so long to realize you were in trouble."

"Rangers, the Firearm Virus is still hurt. You should be able to use the VR to destroy it without much difficulty." came Silver's voice from the speakers in our helmets.

"You heard the man, let's do it!" I called.

Even if our weapons aren't out, we can still summon the VR. The codecs are smart enough to send the binary code versions or our weapons directly into the center of our formation, which then materializes into the mighty ballista known as the Virus Reaper.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

Once each of us had a steady grip on one of the VR's feet/handles, it was time to charge it up. This process takes roughly five seconds, so to help us keep track of that timer as well as to add dramatic effect, Silver tells us to count down out loud.

"Four…" said Green

"Three…" said Blue.

"Two…" said Yellow.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. Without our visors, we wouldn't be able to see the shot at all. Once the bolt had hit the virus, it kept going and returned to us like a boomerang. The more we used the VR, the more confident we became in our abilities to aim it. That's for the best, because we only get one shot each time we summon it.

Rather than fall over and explode, the Firearm Virus just stayed there, completely frozen. We waited and waited and waited, but it didn't look like anything was going to happen.

"Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"

"Those idiotic technicolour twerps!" I spat, "Another perfectly good virus destroyed."

"Your Majesty, I think they're called Power Rangers." said Phisher, the dim-witted virus that is supposed to be my assistant.

"Thank you, Phisher, it's always aggravating to have someone state the obvious!" I snapped.

"Sorry," said Phisher, "I thought you didn't know their names."

Phisher was only really useful as a punching bag and waiter. At least General Berg and Dr. Molex were much more reliable. I created Phisher first, by mistake and then had better luck the second and third times. Dr. Molex's job is to archive and maintain all the codes I've corrupted and use them to make monstrous viruses. General Berg is the battle commander who controls the Replicator armies remotely.

"My Liege, perhaps now would be a good time to test out the patch machine?" asked Dr. Molex.

"I agree," I said, "Enter the algorithm sequences in the command line interface and we'll see if the virus is compatible with it."

"As you wish, Sire." said Dr. Molex.

In my experience, I learned that overkill is never a good thing. In fact, back when I was human, I would've made a clean escape after my last kill, if it weren't for the fact that I got too carried away. I completely massacred her and I didn't have to. Had I been able to control myself, the CDI would never have caught me and I'd still in the human world.

So, that's why I've been careful not to overdo it with the rangers. I could've started making the viruses bigger weeks ago, but instead I decided to wait. The Firearm Virus shouldn't have been so easy to take down. I must have miscalculated when I made the corrupt code for it or something because it was the strongest virus yet, but somehow it was taken down by nothing more than a chandelier. But, like that old saying, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Patch installation initiated!" cackled Dr. Molex, pulling a lever to power up the machine.

"Let's see what you make of this, rangers!" I jeered at them, even though they couldn't hear me.

"Riley Bishop"

It was if someone had hit the pause button on the virus. It hadn't moved since the VR's bolt pierced clean through it.

"What the hell is going on?" snapped Yellow, "I hate waiting! If you're gonna explode just do it already!"

Then, to keep the metaphor running, someone seemed to push the rewind button on the virus. It traveled back until the moment before our bolt hit it and then paused again momentarily. The virus unfroze when, get this, a PERCENTAGE BAR appeared next to it's head.

"Oh no…" whimpered Blue.

"It looks like we made Trojan cranky." said Green.

"Silver, I think its Zord time." I said into my Digitizer.

"They aren't combat ready yet-"

"I don't care! We need them now! Trojan is making the Firearm Virus bigger."

"Alright… I've activated them," he said, "Summon them as if they were your weapons."

The percentage bar was at about 60% now. Ready or not, we needed the Data Zords ASAP.

"Download Gorilla Zord!" called Green.

Silver told us that our Zords would only be able to appear one at a time. So, we had to be very specific when summoning them, unlike our weapons.

To the right of Green, a swirling tornado of binary had kicked up. It looked like the thin air over there was morphing. Shortly thereafter, a massive green robot shaped like a gorilla had appeared and was now waiting for instructions. One by one, the others began to call their Zords too.

"Download Rhino Zord!" called Yellow.

"Download Marlin Zord!" called Blue.

"Download Fox Zord!" I called.

Once they had all materialized, we hopped into their cockpits and grabbed the wheels. Silver really was a genius. I can barely drive a car, let alone a massive fox-shaped robot.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, making sure to speak into the microphone in my cockpit.

"Roger!" said Blue.

"Aye-Aye!" said Yellow.

"All systems go!" said Green.

"Alright then, I guess its Megazord time!"

I think that because our powers came from the same source, we had developed a sort of link with each other. I knew that in order for this to work, the four of us needed to push the transform buttons at precisely the same time, but, somehow I could almost instinctively tell when to react. My theory is that we share a link of sorts, but I have no way to verify that yet.

We had never used the Zords before now, and it got weird after pushing the buttons. It was almost like when we morphed. Even though my body hadn't actually left the cockpit of my Zord, I could see what was happening from an angle above the action.

The Rhino Zord became the legs. Its outer body folded out like a scissor lift, revealing a very obvious shape that could only be legs. They were powerful looking and had the head of the Zord for one its feet, horns and all. I would assume that was for kicking.

The Gorilla Zord became the torso. The robot's muscular arms sort of retracted inside the gorilla's body, like the shell of a tortoise. Its legs flew off and reformed into some sort of belt.

Next came the Marlin Zord, which became the Megazord's right arm. It didn't really change much, but when it was securely attached, I noticed that the marlin's mouth would serve as a menacing sword. The right arm had no real hands or fingers because of this.

Lastly, my Fox Zord became the left arm. Its bushy tail came off like a sheath comes off a sword. Where the tail used to be was a thin, but flexible looking bicep. The left arm's hand appeared when the head of the fox came off.

At this point, I thought that the Megazord was now fully formed. Its head was kind of scrawny, but it would still work fine. Just then, the excess parts from my fox joined together and changed into a helmet which came to rest on top of the puny head. Instantly, it looked that much better.

It didn't feel like I moved from where I was floating back into the cockpit. Instead, it felt like I just woke up already inside it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now; each of them had a steering mechanism of some kind which controlled their individual part of the Megazord.

"Cyberspace Megazord! Online!" we exclaimed in excited unison.

"This is cool!" said Green, looking around like a kid in a carnival for the first time.

"I can't wait to try out it's stereo system," said Yellow, "There must be a bitchin' subwoofer."

"Rangers, will you please focus?" barked Silver over the intercom.

The Firearm Virus rapidly grew to match us in size. The bank was in ruins and I intended to do the same to the virus.

"Whoa! What a rush!" it said, "Seems like we both got hardware upgrades."

The virus' hands were both guns in its true form. I never got a chance to look at what Vince had really been because I was too busy shooting a digital bolt at him. It raised them at us and fired. We took a direct hit and stumbled backwards, nearly destroying the Overpass.

"I thought his arms were machine guns!?" yelped Green.

"He must be able to cycle between different modes," I said, "Blue, ready our sword!"

"You foolish tin can! Never bring a knife to a gunfight!" said the Virus.

"Technically it's a marlin." retorted Blue.

"Either way, it's a fish out of water." said Green.

We all leered at him.

"Sorry…" he mumbled.

Blue held out our sword arm horizontally and then Green began to rotate the Megazord's torso at the waist. Combined, these two actions created a walking cyclone of death.

"Get back! I'm warning you!" moaned the Virus, anxiously.

Yellow made us enter a sprint; with the Megazord's torso still spinning. Panicking, the Virus switched to machine gun mode and fired a storm of bullets at us, which just ended up being reflected away by our cyclone.

"Oh boy…" grunted the Virus.

Our sword ravaged him when it made contact, but, just to be sure, we didn't stop the spinning or stop walking until we were sure the virus was gone. And, this time he was, because seconds later, it separated into all kinds of smaller pieces and disintegrated.

Now I could relax. Now I was free to go find Amanda. I didn't need to say much to the others, because they knew what I meant when I said my sister's name. I leapt out of the Megazord and ran as fast I could. I don't know where Amanda would've gone, but I knew she had escaped the bank. If she hadn't, she'd be dead now.

"Amanda!" I called, frantically as I weaved in and out of the streets.

"Riley!?" she panted from somewhere I couldn't see.

"Where are you?"

Then I saw it. Just a few yards away from me was an overturned bus. My sister was waving at me from on top of it. I dashed towards it, but then tripped on some debris and fell forward.

"Is that really you?" she asked, limping over to me.

"I guess there's no point trying to deny anymore, huh?"

"This is unbelievable," she said, kneeling down, "How did this happen?"

"It's a long story." I said.

"Then I want you to bore with all the details when we get home."

"Silver won't be happy when he figures out that you know about me."

"Don't worry," said Amanda, "I can keep a secret."

As I teleported us back to our house, I couldn't stop worrying. Sure, I might have saved countless people in that bank, my mind was racing. How will having my sister know about me change Trojan's tactics? Did I put her in even more danger by morphing in front of her? Will all the other people that saw me morph keep my secret too? Are they in just as much danger as Amanda now? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.