Headquarters, Sector 0
Metro City, Canada
May 20th, 2015
12:47 PM
"Jenna Dawson"
Stephen and I were hard at work rebuilding some of the last remaining components of the Mainframe. Once we were completely finished, I'd be going back home to start work on my Mainframe.
"What do you mean I get distracted easily?" he said.
"I mean that you're able to multi-task very well, but I wonder if you'd be more productive if you weren't always multi-tasking." I said.
"I'm not doing two things at once right now," said Stephen, "I've got a new potential weapon for the rangers rendering in the background, but I'm not switching between two separate tasks."
"At the moment..." I said in a voice that was barely a whisper.
His computer had the ability to build technological gadgets. Stephen would take all the required components and put them in one end of his machine, then he would program in the instructions on how to build it so that when the machine finished building it, the final product would be sent out on the other end.
It saves him massive amounts of time because he doesn't have to build most things himself anymore. Sometimes he still will, like if it's going to be a particularly challenging or interesting procedure.
Whatever he had been waiting on had just finished and popped out on the other side of the machine. This time, it had produced what looked like a detonator for plastic explosives.
"Speak of the devil." said Stephen.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A compact EMP detonator," he said, "For the rangers to use if they get in a bind."
"But that would affect them too, wouldn't it?"
"That's why I wrote an algorithm that tells the signal to bypass anything that has the same energy signature as the codecs," said Stephen, "It draws in power from the area around it, and then when you push the button, it will release an EMP blast that can cover up to four times the radius of the power it took in."
"Very impressive," I said, "Have you tested it out yet?"
"No, I wanted to wait until Headquarters is up and running again."
The EMP detonator lit up all by itself. Very quickly all the lights in Headquarters seemed to flicker on and off. Then there was a pause during which Stephen tried to run up and disarm it, but before he could, the detonator released an EMP blast. It did nothing to us, but every electronic device in Headquarters shut down.
"Well," said Stephen, "At least it harnesses power and releases EMPs properly."
"Why did it go off on its own?" I asked.
"I have no idea." he said, walking over to examine it.
I grabbed a flashlight from a nearby drawer and walked over to him to shine it on the detonator.
"Look there," said Stephen, "That's where it went wrong. It was using too much power to keep the algorithm running that it bypassed the activation switch."
I moved the beam from the flashlight to illuminate the area he had been pointing too and saw that it was fried like a piece of charcoal.
"I think it's overall design is too small to do everything it needs to do," said Stephen, "If I make it bigger, then I can give it two power sources, one for each primary function."
"Really?" said a deep, distorted voice, "Personally, I like it the way it is."
We both whipped around to see the Renegade Ranger standing in Headquarters.
"How did you get in here?" asked Stephen, "You shouldn't be able to."
"Normally, yes," said the Renegade, "But you see, when that EMP went off, so did all the security features that are supposed to keep non-lap dogs like me from entering."
"How did you know that was going to happen?" I asked.
"I didn't," he said, "I was just lurking outside, thinking of what the best way to break in here would be, when all of a sudden the power goes out."
"And because I intended the rangers to use the detonator in battle, I made sure it wouldn't be able to affect them," said Stephen, "Which means it also didn't affect you."
"Bingo." said the Renegade.
"The rangers won't be able to morph until the effects of the EMP wear off and the Mainframe is up and running again," said Stephen, "But based on how much power the detonator drew in to charge the EMP, that might not happen for hours."
"Don't worry," said the Renegade, "I'm not going to hurt either of you."
"You're not?" I asked, "Then what are you going to do?"
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I was hoping we could have tea and crackers," said the Renegade, "But then I thought that kidnapping one of you would be a lot more fun!"
"Just one of us?" asked Stephen.
"Yeah," said the Renegade, "But the problem is that I can't decide which one of you to kidnap. You're both the brains behind this whole Power Ranger operation, which means either one of you could help me solve the problem I'm having."
"Just take me!" said Stephen, "I'll go with you."
"That's no fun," said the Renegade, "Besides, if I kidnapped you, it'd be like throwing a rock at a hornet's nest. All your little lapdogs would get pissed off and take you back before I could get what I need from you."
"No matter which one of us you take," I said, "The rangers will find you eventually. There's nowhere you can go to hide from them."
"I'd like to test that theory," said the Renegade, "And you're coming with me!"
He pounced at me, but not to attack, instead he grabbed me and teleported away all in one swift motion. The next thing I knew, we were in a decrepit old cabin.
All the windows and doors were boarded up, but there were obvious signs that someone was living here. There was a garbage can with garbage in it, and candles all over the place. There was also a sleeping bag in a corner of the shack next to a large suitcase.
"What did you? Where are we?" I asked.
"No, no, no!" gasped the Renegade, clutching at his chest, "Sawyer, you meddling fool!"
The place where he was clutching was glowing purple. As the light grew brighter and brighter, the Renegade seemed to be in more and more pain. The light seemed to expand into a pillar of purple binary and I could hear a high pitched humming sound.
It all seemed to be building up until there was a small explosion of light. The noise and the light subsided, even the Renegade was gone. In his place, was a young man who was wearing an expression of both fear and triumph. This must be Sawyer.
"What are you doing here?" he panted.
"You brought me here," I said, "Don't you remember?"
"I didn't do anything," said Sawyer, "The Renegade brought you here."
"I know, he came into Headquarters and kidnapped me." I said.
"Then that means you must be Jenna," said Sawyer, "The Renegade told me he wanted to abduct either you, or someone named Silver."
"And you must be Sawyer." I said.
"Look, Jenna," said Sawyer, "I don't know how long I'll be able to hold him back. The Renegade is getting stronger all the time. Get out of here while you still have a chance!"
"Or," I said, "You can take me back to Sector 0. If you bring me to Headquarters, Stephen will give you the special Digitizer we made for you that will keep you in control of your codec. All of this will finally be over!"
"I can't," said Sawyer, "I'd never make it. The Renegade would take control before I got very far."
"Then teleport there," I said, "That's how the Renegade got me here in the first place."
"I don't know how," said Sawyer, "I don't even know if I can. The Renegade can, but not me..."
"Right," I said, "Because you don't have a Digitizer."
"When he comes back, he's going to want to hurt you until you tell him what he wants to know." said Sawyer.
"And what does he want to know?"
"I'm not sure exactly," said Sawyer, "But I think it might have something to do with this."
He turned away from me and went to take something out of his suitcase. When he turned back to me, I knew exactly what he was holding. It was the Extractor.
"How long has the Renegade had that?" I asked.
"Since the rangers defeated him in Sector 9," said Sawyer, "He shares most of his thoughts with me. He keeps whispering to me in my head. He really wants me to work alongside him as his partner. That way he wouldn't have to keep taking over my body."
"So the Renegade is going to torture me for information about the Extractor?" I asked.
"I think so," said Sawyer, "That's why you have to get out of here!"
"I don't even know where "here" is!" I sighed.
"He's coming..." said Sawyer, "He's fighting back! I don't... I can't..."
Instead of the prolonged process I saw last time, this time there was just a small explosion of purple light. When it subsided, I could see that the Renegade had returned.
"Sorry about him," said the Renegade, "He's been doing a that a lot lately."
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Sector 21," he said, "That's right, I know all about it."
"But how?"
"It's not like it's some big secret," said the Renegade, "Ask any citizen of Metro City about it and they'll tell you the same thing. After that, all it took was a quick stop at the library to fill in the blanks."
"You want to know about the Extractor, right?" I asked, "Why it can hurt you?"
"I see Sawyer told you why I brought you here."
"If I tell you what you want to know, you'll let me go, right?" I asked.
"Perhaps," said the Renegade, "Then again... If I know Sawyer, he would've given you an opportunity to escape. But yet, you didn't. You stayed here, even though you knew what I was going to do to you."
"The doors and windows are all boarded up-" I began.
"I think you and Sawyer are trying to team up against me," said the Renegade, cutting me off, "You're going to tell me what you two are planning. Then we'll move on to the Extractor."
"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"
"And then she was gone." I said.
"She won't be for long," said Riley, "Relax, Silver, we're going to find her and bring her back."
"But she could be anywhere," I said, "The Renegade teleported away with her. He literally could've taken her anywhere in the world."
"That doesn't seem like him," said Marcus, "I think he's still within city limits. He wants us to find him, he wants a challenge."
"But he also wants information," I said, "That's why he took her. I offered to go with him, but he took her anyway."
"It's not your fault, Silver." said Chloe.
"But it feels like it is," I said, "There's no easy way to search for her. Unlike the five of you, she isn't wearing something that I can track or monitor."
"No, but the Renegade is," said Heath, "Isn't he?"
"Yes, he is," I said, "But the purple codec isn't in the system."
"So add it." said Riley.
"I can't just add it like that," I said, "That's not the way the software works."
"Well, if the mountain won't come to you, you must go to the mountain," said Riley, "Or something like that. I read it in a book full of famous quotes the other day."
"I might be able trick the software into showing me the purple codec," I said, "But it's going to require a lot of temporary reprogramming."
"Then do it," said Riley, "In the meantime, we'll scour as much of the city as we can on foot."
"Jenna Dawson"
"You might not know this, but there's five major torture groups," said the Renegade, "Blunt, sharp, hot, cold and loud. As I'm sure you know by now, I've been going fairly easy on you. We started with loud and just finished with cold."
I wasn't able to hold back a small whimper, but because I was shivering, I was able to disguise it as minor shiver, which he would expect from me.
By now I was bound and gagged in a cheap wooden chair. He stood in front of me and put one foot on my chair, leaving the other on the ground. Then he leaned in very close to my face.
"Unfortunately, that leaves the three most painful ones..." said the Renegade, "And I'm still no closer to the answers I seek than when we started."
"Fine! I-I-I'll t-t-tell you!" I shivered, "I tried to get Sawyer to c-c-come b-back to Headquarters with me so that we c-c-c-could g-give him a Digitizer, but he d-d-d-didn't want t-t-to. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold you back long enough."
"And what would've happened if Silver gave Sawyer a Digitizer?"
"It would allow him to use the codec like the other rangers do," I said, "You wouldn't be able to take over his body anymore."
"I meant, what would've happened to me?" groaned the Renegade.
"I don't know," I whimpered again, "It might destroy you, it might not."
"I don't believe you!" snapped the Renegade, "I think you're hiding something from me!"
"I swear, I'm not!" I sobbed.
"No!" he roared, "I'm losing control!"
There was another small explosion of purple light as Sawyer regained control.
"My god, Jenna!" he said, rushing over to me, "What did he do to you?"
"Exactly what you said he would," I said, "Don't worry about it, I need you to help me so listen closely. As long as I'm trapped here, I might as well try to gather information about your codec."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Keep a notepad hidden, and every time you regain control, ask me if I learned anything that's worth writing down, and then write it."
"That's it?" he asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"Okay then," said Sawyer, pulling a notepad out his suitcase, "What do I write down first?"
"That the Renegade has a short term goal," I said, "We already know his long term goal is to take over Metro City. But he also needs to find a body that he can permanently inhabit."
"What if he can't find one?" asked Sawyer, writing down what I had said.
"The longer a codec remains bonded with its host, the stronger it will become. The same thing is happening to the rangers, except your codec is bigger than theirs," I said, "And since you don't have a Digitizer, your codec was able to develop self-awareness and a malicious personality."
"I've tried getting rid of it," said Sawyer, "But it doesn't work. Every time I try, the Renegade takes over and stops me."
"The Renegade and the codec are one and the same. As the codec gets stronger, the harder it will be for you to resist it. Eventually, it could destroy you, and then your body would be free for the taking."
"So the Renegade wants to steal my body and take over the city?" asked Sawyer.
"That's what it seems like," I said, "Maybe write that down too."
"Do you know why sometimes it hurts and other times it doesn't?" he asked.
"Probably because your codec is building up too much energy. When the codec takes control, it's predominantly a survival instinct, because if that energy isn't released, the codec will literally self-destruct from excess energy build up." I said.
Sawyer wrote that down too. Then he hid the notepad under the sleeping bag and zipped up the suitcase he took it from. The shack now looked exactly the way it did when the Renegade last saw it.
"I can feel him," said Sawyer, "I don't think I can hold him back!"
A small explosion of purple light erupted as the Renegade took control again.
"Still here I see," he said, "Why am I not surprised?"
"What are we going to do next?" I asked, "I hope it's hot, because I'm still really cold."
"So you figure I'm going to help warm you up?" asked the Renegade, "Thereby stopping the effect that the cold is having on you?"
"Most of my body is numb," I said, "I won't feel blunt or sharp."
"How confident are you of that?" he asked.
I watched as he pulled out a hot plate and a dented metal pot from a different suitcase. He went over to the kitchen area and poured some grimy, brownish water into the pot. Then he came back and put the pot on the hot plate to boil the water.
Sawyer's jacket was laying on the floor nearby. The Renegade seemed to know what would be inside it, because he reached into a pocket and pulled out a hunting knife.
"I'm confused," I said, shifting my gaze from the water to the knife, "Which are we doing, hot or sharp?"
"You really think I'm just going to tell you?" asked the Renegade, "This must be your first time being tortured."
"Actually, that depends on your definition of torture..." I said, more to myself than to him.
"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"
I had been working away for at least a few hours by now. What I was doing was using what my software already knew about the ranger's codecs in an attempt to find the Renegade. This meant I had to write a new version of the software that by default, searches for signals that are even remotely similar to the ones the codecs emit.
The original software was designed to track the rangers, by looking for the specific signals that each of the five codecs emit. In order for me to use to track the Renegade, I would need to get my hands on his codec and scan it so that the software would learn what it's unique signal is.
This new software shows me all the signals that it thinks could potentially be codecs, but first I have to input filters to eliminate all the signals that aren't what we're looking for.
"Silver, how long has this monitor been here?" asked Heath, "I know I'm not great at math, but no matter how many times I count them, I keep ending up with one more than I remember you saying there were."
"That's for Sector 21," I said, "Just in case."
"It doesn't look like there's a signal though." said Heath.
"Because Sector 21 is off the grid, the cameras don't work there," I said, "So that monitor actually uses the state of the art telescopic camera that's attached to the Silversoft satellite."
"Back up a sec," said Heath, "You have a satellite?"
"This is not a good time, okay?"
"Alright." he said.
"What filters are you using?" asked Riley.
"First I'm lowering the sensitivity of the software in small increments," I said, "Right now it's showing me over 500,000 signals."
"So you want to make it less sensitive to signals?"
"Yes," I said, "The codecs emit a very, very weak signal. There's only a few other electronic devices that emit a signal as weak as them."
"Okay," said Riley, "So by lowering the sensitivity, eventually all it will be able to pick up are signals that are about the same in strength?"
"Exactly," I said, pressing the final key with a bit of a flourish, "There! Now we wait..."
I leaned back in my chair to relax while the software did it's work. I stretched my wrists, my neck and my back while trying not to focus on how frustrated I am that the EMP device backfired and allowed the Renegade to kidnap Jenna. Or how frustrated I was that there was nothing I could've done to stop it with the power out.
"Just hold on, Jenna..." I whispered.
"Jenna Dawson"
That sadistic bastard did both hot and sharp at the same time. I felt every single cut and the heat from the blade even left minor burns all over the place.
"Do you feel like telling me about the Extractor yet?" he asked.
I must've passed out for a while, because I opened my eyes when I heard his voice. I saw that the Renegade was holding a generic aerosol can and lighter. He had also left the boiling water on the hot plate.
"It's powered by trinium," I moaned, "An element so rare that only five pounds have been discovered thus far."
"Which means that if I was to break it..." said the Renegade, "You wouldn't be able to make another one."
"That's one way of looking at it," I whimpered, "But I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Yeah?" he asked, "And why's that?"
He sprayed the aerosol nozzle directly over top of the exposed flame from the lighter. The flames never touched me, but they came dangerously close several times. I think he was doing that on purpose. He didn't want to set me on fire, he just wanted me to feel the heat.
"The Extractor was designed for one purpose," I said, "To drain energy from Sawyer's codec and temporarily reduce the amount of energy it can generate."
"So this thing absorbs that extra energy?" asked the Renegade, "Which would result in me being weakened until the codec can generate more."
"If you destroy it, all that extra energy will vanish in an explosion powerful enough to destroy you for good." I said, closing my eyes as if I was in pain so that he wouldn't be able to tell that I was lying.
Truthfully, the Extractor wouldn't explode if the Renegade destroyed it. It would just break like most things. The trinium reactor immediately neutralizes any energy that it absorbs.
"But if I leave the energy in here," said the Renegade, "I might be able to find a way of absorbing it for myself."
He was of course wrong, I was feeding him false information on purpose. There's no way to absorb the drained energy from the Extractor because the energy is neutralized too fast.
"No..." I sobbed, "They trusted me with that secret... But I just can't take anymore!"
Or at least that's what I wanted him to think. Don't get me wrong, I was in excruciating pain, so much so that I could barely form a cohesive thought, let alone a sentence, but I was determined not to show it. I wanted him to think that he broke me down because I had a feeling that even if the rangers came for me, that he wouldn't have let them take me if he wasn't done with me.
"You'll let me go now, right?" I weeped.
"Why would I do that?" he asked, "We could still do a few more sessions of sharp. And we haven't even gotten to blunt!"
"I told you everything you wanted to know!" I cried, "Please let me go!"
"Damnit Sawyer!"
A small explosion of purple light erupted as Sawyer regained control again. But this time there was something different about him.
"THIS IS MY BODY!" said two voices simultaneously.
"NOT FOR LONG!" said the Renegade.
"SCREW YOU!" said Sawyer.
It seemed like Sawyer's body was at war with itself. It kept flashing between being in ranger mode and civilian mode. It kept repeating two actions in a pattern. First it would grab its chest as if it was having a heart attack, then it would grab its head as if it had a headache.
"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"
The rangers had come up empty handed in their search. But that doesn't mean that Jenna wasn't in Metro City, it just meant that she wasn't out in the open. This likely means that Marcus is right. The Renegade wants information, but he also doesn't want to let us take Jenna without a fight, even if he doesn't need her anymore.
The second filter I used narrowed all signals based on the manufacturer of the device. I was trying to get rid of everything that wasn't made by me or my company.
"I think you're going about this wrong," said Riley, "Do you mind if I drive?"
"Yes, I do, actually." I said.
But then Heath gave my chair a gentle kick, which made me roll out of the way. Then Riley took over the keyboard. But instead of trying to take the keyboard, I stopped myself. Maybe a fresh mind was just what we needed.
Riley undid all my previous filters, and then typed in one of his own. And then another one and another one and another one. Eventually I lost count because I started focusing less on him and more on the fact that there were now only seven blinking lights. I wheeled myself back to my desk hurriedly.
"Amazing." I said.
"You're welcome." said Riley.
This was more progress than I ever expected to make. I think that because Riley wasn't letting his emotions do all his thinking, that he was able to concentrate hard and do what I would never have been able to do in my current state. If Jenna was still here and not in danger, then I definitely would have been able to do the same thing, but that wasn't the case at the moment.
"Now," I said, "To verify that these readings are accurate, we need to temporarily remove your codecs from the equation."
"And you already saved this as an entirely new program," said Riley, "Which means removing our codecs from this program won't affect the original one."
"Correct." I said.
I watched as they all removed their codecs from their Digitizers and approached me with their hands outstretched and their palms face up. The five glimmering codecs each resting in their hands.
First I scanned Riley's, followed by Chloe's, then Heath's, then Marcus' and finally, Rachel's. I already went and retrieved the silver codec to save time. It was the last one I scanned.
All that was left on the screen was one lone dot. It was outside the boundaries of the Metro City map, in the outskirts.
"No Man's Land?" asked Marcus.
"The Renegade must not realize that we can in fact still track him in Sector 21," I said, "I would imagine he still thinks that the frequency jammer is still there."
"Even though we destroyed it months ago." said Rachel.
"But, to be fair," I said, "It's still the last place any of us would've thought to look."
"Well that doesn't matter now," said Riley, "Let's get going!"
"Jenna Dawson"
At some points, it would seem like Sawyer was winning, but then at other points, it seemed like the Renegade was winning. I was having a hard time distinguishing between them now. Because even though the Renegade would be on the outside, it would speak with Sawyer's voice, or vice-versa. Sometimes both of them would speak at the same time.
I think it was Sawyer who had turned off the hot plate and emptied the water out of the pot, but it was the Renegade who attempted to move on to blunt and use the pot to bludgeon me.
It was probably Sawyer that was trying to shoot himself with the Extractor, but the Renegade who kept making him drop it before it could actually fire. I didn't even know who to root for anymore. Just watching made my head hurt.
"GO FIND YOUR OWN BODY!" screamed Sawyer.
"I DON'T NEED TO, YOURS WILL SOON BE MINE!" shouted the Renegade.
"I'LL DIE BEFORE I LET YOU HURT ANYMORE PEOPLE!" screamed Sawyer.
"THEN BY ALL MEANS, STOP FIGHTING AND I'LL BANISH YOU!" shouted the Renegade.
"NEVER!" yelled both voices together, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"
They were advancing on me now. The knife pointed right at me. I panicked and started crying silently. This is it, I thought, this is how I die. But then they walked right past me and the blade sliced right through the rope that had been binding me to the chair.
"Run, Jenna, run!" groaned Sawyer, his voice sounded hoarse.
I collapsed to floor and crawled over to the sleeping bag. I pocketed all the notes Sawyer had taken for me. Then I saw the Extractor. It was laying on the floor, a few feet away from them.
The Renegade gained control long enough to pick up the chair and throw it at my head. I ducked at the last minute and crawled over to the Extractor and grabbed it. I had to roll away to avoid having my head get stomped on.
When I looked back at them, Sawyer reached his hand out as if he wanted me to pull him out of his own body, but the Renegade forced the arm back. I felt as if I should do something, so I raised the Extractor and aimed it right at them. There was no time to wait until it seemed like the Renegade was in control.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes as I pulled the trigger. I made sure to keep it held down too, otherwise it wouldn't have much effect. The beam hit them and they both screamed in agony, but it didn't have the effect I intended. Mind you, I might have been hallucinating from the pain this whole time.
Sawyer's body collapsed to the floor. He was unconscious and it looked like he had won the battle because he wasn't flashing back and forth anymore. Just then what looked like a hologram appeared out of nowhere and hovered above Sawyer. I saw that the hologram was of two people, Sawyer, and the Renegade.
They were locked in combat, but neither of them had weapons. It seemed like I was seeing a physical manifestation of what was going on inside Sawyer's mind. At the moment, the Renegade had Sawyer in a choke hold.
As I lay on the floor of the cabin, trying to determine what was real and what wasn't, five streaks of binary appeared through the roof. Riley, Rachel, Oz, Chloe, Marcus and Stephen had come to rescue me. They hadn't morphed, but that didn't really matter since the Renegade was too preoccupied fighting Sawyer.
"There she is!" called Stephen.
"Any sign of the Renegade?" asked Marcus.
"He's over there," I said, faintly, "He's fighting Sawyer for control of his body."
"My god!" gasped Rachel, "Look!"
She turned to where I had pointed. So I guess that means I really did see it. Riley took one look at the hologram of the Renegade and ran right at it, only he couldn't make contact with it. A jet of black coloured lightning erupted from the hologram and hit Riley right in the chest.
"Aaaggghhh!" he screamed as he was thrown backwards.
The lightning must have done something to him, because he seemed to fly through the air in slow motion. I crawled over to him and nudged him, but he didn't respond.
"He's still alive," I grunted, "But I have no idea what happened to him."
It took all the strength I had left to crawl around the cabin. But I knew I was safe now, so I let my exhaustion overtake me and let myself drift into unconsciousness a few feet away from Riley. The last thing I can remember is what Stephen said next.
"Nobody else try and touch it!" he said, "Let's get both of them back to Headquarters right away!"