Headquarters, Sector 0
Metro City, Canada
June 12th, 2015
6:18 PM
"David Sawyer"
I thought I had heard Riley say something about how Trojan was somehow free from Cyberspace, but that can't possibly be what he said. Silver banished him there, and the whole reason why he was sending monsters to Metro City was because he was angry about being trapped in Cyberspace.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked.
"Somehow, Trojan broke free and returned to our world," he said, "Naturally, the first person he'd want to get revenge on is the person that banished him."
"If he could break free, don't you think he would've done it sooner?" asked Oz.
"Maybe he couldn't do it until just recently." said Chloe.
"Where's Marcus?" asked Rachel.
"Oh no..." muttered Jenna, running over to Silver's computer monitor, "Marcus is still in Cyberspace. Silver was probably about to download Marcus back here when he was taken."
"Can't you do it?" I asked.
"No," said Jenna, "That machine is like the one thing I DON'T know how to use."
"So what do we do now?" asked Oz.
"There's nothing we can do for Marcus right now," said Riley, "We have to go get Silver back."
"But we don't know where Trojan took him." asked Oz.
"Apart from Silver, there's only one person I can think of that would know even a little bit about how Trojan's mind works," said Riley, "And that's you Jenna."
"I don't know nearly as much as Silver." she said.
"But that's already more than most of us know." said Rachel.
"Well, I highly doubt Trojan would go to Sector 21, he knows by now that we can still track people in there," said Jenna, "He also wouldn't go anywhere obvious, like CDI HQ or his old house, so we can cross those of the list as well."
"I'm not too worried about fighting Trojan," said Riley, indicating the new lever on his Digitizer that the Phoenix added, "It's finding him that scares me."
"Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"
I felt unstoppable. Not only was I free from Cyberspace, but I still have all the powers I gained there. I'm not a human again, I'm like a super charged version of my viruses.
The plan I used was risky, and frankly, I'm amazed that it actually worked. But I'm certainly not going to complain. This world is going to pay for what it did to me.
I suppose it can't hurt to share my ingenious plan with you. I knew that Silver would have to send someone into Cyberspace eventually in order to reverse the effects of the Hourglass Virus, so while I waited I absorbed the energy from all the millions of unused virus strains, as well as the energy from General Berg and Dr. Molex, who I destroyed to further my goal.
When Silver uses his machine, it's very similar to when I send viruses to the human world, the only major difference is that Silver has to convert whatever he's sending into data first because only digital information can exist in Cyberspace.
That's not true for the human world though. So I waited until the portal appeared that brought Silver's champion to Cyberspace, then, using all the energy I absorbed, I grabbed the portal and held it open.
After struggling for a while, I managed to make the portal big enough for me to jump through. And then, just like that, I was free!
"How did you do it, Aaron?" asked Silver.
"Does it really matter?" I said, "You'll be dead long before you could do something about it."
"If you were going to kill me, you'd have done it already." he said.
Silver knows me well enough to know that I don't make empty threats. He knows that I AM going to kill him, but what he doesn't know is how.
You can't seriously expect me not take my time and make his death as slow and arduous as is humanly possible. Not after what he did to me.
"Clearly you weren't paying attention when I first brought you here," I said, "When I cuffed you to the wall, I specifically said I wanted to kill you slowly."
"You don't want to kill me, you want to torture me," said Silver, "Either way the rangers will find what's left of me and kick your scrawny ass."
I wasn't always like this, you know. I used to want to be everyone's friend. Especially with women. They are such beautiful creatures. I used to work at a gym, and there were so many beauties that would come in every single day.
I felt unworthy to talk to them face to face, so I decided to hack into their social media accounts and learn everything I could about them before trying to talk to them. They would be flattered that I took such an interest in them and reward me with a kiss or a date.
The first time I tried it, the girl spat in my face a called me a freak! I was NOT going to let that be the way she saw me, so I followed her home and tried to talk to her in the middle of the night, so that no one would bother us.
She threatened to call the police, so I grabbed a book and hit her with it, but I hit her too hard and she died. I had to leave her there and run to cover my tracks. Maybe she just wasn't the one for me.
After being rejected over and over again, I stopped wanting to try and patch things up and eventually decided to make them regret rejecting me.
"If you're finally strong enough to escape, then why are you waiting for the rangers to come to you?" asked Silver, "I think you're hiding like the coward you've always been."
I turned around and slapped him hard across the face.
"I'm not a coward!" I spat.
"Your entire crime spree was based on fear," said Silver, "You're a psychopath that's afraid of being rejected, so instead of trying to change yourself to make friends, you just viciously murdered everyone that rejected you."
I harnessed digital energy and transformed my hand into a lethal blade and skewered him through his right shoulder.
Silver gasped and screamed in pain, but I didn't take the blade out. I left it in there and twisted, while using my other hand to move his head so I could look him in the eye.
"Maybe you're right," I whispered, "Maybe I am a psychopath. Sure would explain why doing stuff like this to you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
I pulled the blade out and Silver screamed again.
"And for the record, I'm not hiding," I chuckled, "I just needed to find a base of operations before I begin my assault."
I had brought Silver to the ruins of the CDI lab where he first used the machine. Although it did work, the energy output of it completely obliterated the lab and everyone was forced to abandon it.
It's just been sitting, unused for years, so I thought it would be the perfect place to set up my new base of operations. Nothing was ever done with it because it was one of those top secret labs that only exists to people that are aware of its existence
If the CDI tried to rebuild or tear it down, it would reveal that it exists. So instead they just left it the way it was.
Currently, my plan is to send significantly stronger viruses to attack the city. Now that I'm not bound by those accursed restrictions, I can start producing viruses that are truly horrific monstrosities.
Even though I absorbed the energy from all my virus strains, I still have access to them because they're part of my new body.
"I'm going to create a virus the likes of which your meddlesome Power Rangers have never seen before," I cackled, "And best of all, that stupid database you stole from me will be completely useless because I can combine various strains together now!"
"No matter what you throw at them, my meddlesome rangers will still stop it," coughed Silver, "They were handpicked by the Master Codec itself."
I got down on my knees so that I was level with him. I ran a finger across his face and then jabbed him in the eye as hard as I could. I kept pressing down until it started to bleed.
Silver screamed in anguish before losing consciousness. I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I wiped the blood from his eye off my finger.
"That's the difference between you and me Silver," I cackled again, "We just don't see eye to eye!"
"Jenna Dawson"
It had been about two hours since Silver was kidnapped and I'm no closer to figuring out where Trojan would have taken him than I was when I started researching.
"This is hopeless!" I shrieked in frustration, banging my head lightly on the keyboard, "The only person who would know where Trojan would've taken Silver is Silver."
The others all reappeared in five coloured streaks of binary.
"We've had no luck either." said Riley.
"Do you mind if I butt in?" asked Marcus.
I turned in my chair and saw Marcus standing right in the middle of Headquarters. He didn't look like he was really "here" though.
"Marcus? Is that you?" gasped Oz.
"Yeah, it's me," said Marcus, "I'm in Trojan's old lair. All his equipment and stuff is here, and all of it still works. Did you know he has a hologram transmitter?"
"So you're not actually here?" asked Chloe, walking up to him and trying to pinch him, her fingers went right through his body.
"No. I'm still in Cyberspace," he said, "But I can see and hear everything that you guys have been doing the same way Trojan could."
"Silver is the only one that knows how to bring you back," said Riley, "That's why we've been focusing all our time looking for him."
"Guys, I already know all of that, I could hear you talking." said Marcus.
"Wait, if you can see and hear whatever you want, does that mean you can tell us where Trojan took Silver?" I asked.
"I figured out how to use this thing, didn't I?" he said.
The image flickered and died. We could hear a sound reminiscent of TV static, then the image came right back again.
"I never said I had mastered it," said Marcus, "Give me a sec, I'll see if I can find them."
We saw him turn his head and use his finger to scan whatever he used to watch us. Then he turned his head back. He looked disappointed.
"I found them," he sighed, "But Silver is in rough shape."
"Where is he!?" I asked.
"I don't know exactly where it is, but I can give you the GPS coordinates," said Marcus, "And I also snagged this psych profile of Aaron Kingsley from the CDI archives. He is one sick little monkey."
I turned to look back at the screen. I had a new email that didn't have a sender address, but I knew it was from Marcus. In it I found the coordinates and the profile.
"Thanks, Marcus," said Riley, "Hang in there."
The sirens started blaring their oh so unwelcome alarms.
"A virus attack?" I asked, "But how is that possible?"
"Maybe Trojan brought everything he needed to make more with him?" said Oz.
"If that's true, then this will be an incredibly powerful virus," I said, "I don't have time to explain how or why right now. You five need to split up."
"I'm going after Silver." said Riley.
"I'll come with you," said Sawyer, "I owe him so much."
"Then the rest of us will go after the virus," said Rachel, "Once Silver is back home, have him bring Marcus back and then the three of you can come help us."
"Assuming the virus survives that long..." said Oz, cracking his knuckles.
Rachel, Oz and Chloe arranged themselves into a three person formation.
"Ready?" asked Rachel.
"Ready!" said Oz and Chloe.
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they shouted together.
After they finished morphing, they stood closer together and teleported to wherever the virus signature had indicated.
"As for you two," I said, "The coordinates that Marcus gave us don't seem to lead to anything. Unless..."
My voice trailed off as I wracked my brain. Then I remembered that when Silver banished Aaron Kingsley, he was whisked away to some sort of secret government location. Now that I think about it, it would sort of make sense for Trojan to set up a new outpost at the exact same spot where he was originally banished.
"Unless what?" asked Sawyer.
"We would never have found them if it hadn't been for Marcus," I said, "These coordinates will allow you to teleport into an abandoned top secret government facility, that for all intents and purposes, doesn't technically exist."
"That would explain why we didn't find him," said Riley, "It isn't even on a map."
"Trojan probably chose it for that exact reason," said Sawyer, "Among other things."
"Ready?" asked Riley.
"Ready." said Sawyer, pumping the clutch on his Digitizer just like I showed him.
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted Riley.
"RENEGADE, POWER UP!" shouted Sawyer.
In the blink of an eye they had transformed.
"Don't worry, Jenna," said Riley, "We'll bring Silver back, I promise."
I watched as they turned into red and purple streaks of data and flew up through the ceiling of Headquarters.
"I'm holding you to that." I said, even though they were already gone and couldn't hear me.
"David Sawyer"
We arrived indoors. The place looked as though it was ground zero of an atomic bomb. The concrete walls were charred and large chunks were missing. There were also several deep cracks.
The ceiling was uneven and equally as banged up as the walls. But it didn't look like it could potentially collapse at any point. There was a thick metal door on the other side of the room from where we arrived.
"I'd say they're through that door." I said.
"Okay, here's the plan," said Red, "When we open that door, I'll activate my Phoenix Armour and keep Trojan busy while you grab Silver and get him out of here."
"What if Trojan is too strong for you?" I asked.
"Don't worry about it, you can come back later and lend a hand AFTER you get Silver out of here."
I nodded to show I agreed.
"Let me get the door for you." I said.
"You're a real gentleman." said Red.
"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"
I tried to open my eyes, but only one worked. That can't be a good sign.
"NO! NO! NO!" screamed Trojan, "You can't take him! I'M NOT DONE WITH HIM YET!"
He transformed both his hands to deadly claws and charged at Riley, who luckily, was in ranger form.
"PHOENIX ARMOUR, ACTIVATE!" he shouted.
An explosion of fiery binary enveloped him, and when it subsided, he was decked out in his combat armour.
"Impressive." said Trojan, taking a few swipes at him.
Sawyer, who was also in ranger form, ran over to me while staying low to the ground.
"It's okay Silver, I've got you," he said, "Let's get you back to Headquarters."
"Riley Bishop"
Even though we've never directly fought against Trojan before, he seemed like he was significantly stronger. I feel like Silver or Jenna would've mentioned if he had crazy limb transforming powers.
He lunged at me again with his claws. I saw my opportunity and went for it. Using my fiery sword, I sliced one of his arms clean off.
Rather than show any kind of pain at all, Trojan just looked the stump at burst into hysterical laughter.
"You think something like that will be enough to stop me?" he chuckled.
"Well, I was kind of hoping it would, yeah." I said.
"Want to see a magic trick?" he giggled.
The stump started glowing, and then a surge of binary appeared a reconfigured itself into another arm. I watched in amazement as his arm finished mending itself, only to get punched in the face by his other arm.
He grabbed my breast plate and lifted me above his head.
"The Phoenix gave you that power, didn't it?" he asked, "I've been wanting to get some of it's incredible power for years now, but somehow it's always managed to elude me."
Trojan took his other hand and placed his palm on my breast plate and I felt a strange sensation as all the heat in my body seemed to drain away. The Phoenix Armour disintegrated, and then my ranger suit did too. The binary code from it flowed into skin before disappearing.
I saw his eyes flash red momentarily as a nasty grin spread across his face.
"Thanks," he snickered, "I needed that."
"Let go of him, you prick!" snapped a familiar voice.
I turned my head to see Marcus in his green ranger suit. Green stabbed Trojan in the stomach, and he let go of me when he doubled over in pain. As I got to my feet, I saw Green pull his spear out put it away.
"Now's our chance, let's get out of here!" he hollered. holding out his hand.
I took his hand and he teleported us back to Headquarters.
"Jenna Dawson"
Marcus let go of Riley's hand and stood back once they returned.
"Power down." said Marcus.
"Where's Silver? How's he doing?" asked Riley.
"Trojan gouged out his left eye," I said, looking down at my feet solemnly, "He wouldn't even let me tend to his injuries until he brought Marcus back."
"He's sleeping in his bedroom upstairs," said Marcus, "He should be fine, but there's nothing we can do about his eye."
"I think Trojan stole my Phoenix Armour," said Riley, "He was able to pick me up while I was using it. When the Renegade touched the armour, it burned him."
"That's because it's imbued with the Phoenix's purifying energy," I said, "It was like holy water to Sawyer's corrupted codec. But Trojan is something else entirely."
"The others!" Riley exclaimed, "They're still waiting on us for backup!"
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted Marcus and Riley.
Again, I watched as a streak of green binary and a streak of red binary rocketed upwards through the ceiling.
"David Sawyer"
The virus had the insane ability to manipulate metal objects. One of its favourite techniques was to summon a piece of metal from somewhere, and then rotate it in the air really fast. When it was finished, the metal would be sharp like a javelin, which it would then throw at us using its mind.
A streak of red and green binary flew in from above and landed next to me.
"Took you long enough!" I said, "Hey Green, welcome back."
"Thanks." he said.
Red ran over towards the others. Green and I followed close behind.
"We need to confuse it!" called Red.
"How do you suppose we do that?" asked Blue.
"Make sure we don't hold still long enough for it to throw stuff at us," said Red, "Let's try running circles around it as fast as we can."
"That sounds ridiculous!" barked Yellow.
"If any of you have a better idea, I'm all ears." said Red.
"I suppose it can't hurt to try." said Orange.
So we started running in circles. The virus kept sharpening pieces of metal, but instead of throwing them at us, it kept them suspended in the air, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Okay, now everyone switch directions!" called Red.
Now were running counter clockwise around the virus. By now it had 12 javelins floating above its head, but it didn't do anything with them. At least it wasn't sharpening more metal.
"Someone jump the circle!" called Red, "Give it a target before joining back with the rest of us!"
"I'll do it!" I huffed.
I hopped out the circle, waved at the virus and then stood there momentarily. I saw it take aim at me, but didn't move. It fired three javelins, but seconds after it launched them, Red jumped out the circle and tapped the virus on the shoulder from behind.
In that moment, it lost control of the spears while it turned around to who had tapped it. The three spears it had launched at me shot back towards the virus and got stuck in its torso.
"I can't believe that actually worked." chuckled Red.
The others stopped running and joined Red and I to see what happened to the virus. It was not a pretty sight.
A black stream of binary, very similar to what we look like when we teleport, appeared in the sky and landed right next to the defeated virus. It was Trojan.
"Very nice," he chuckled, "Try this on for size."
He shoved his fist deep into the virus' back and then snapped his finger. When he removed his fist, the virus started convulsing uncontrollably until turned into a flurry of data and reconfigured itself into a massive form of itself.
"Jenna," said Red, "We need the Zords!"
"They're ready to go," she said, "Sawyer, see what happens if you combine your T-Rex with the other Zords."
"Download Fox Zord!" called Red.
"Download Gorilla Zord!" called Green.
"Download Rhino Zord!" called Yellow.
"Download Falcon Zord!" called Orange.
"Download Marlin Zord!" called Blue.
"Download T-Rex Zord!" I called.
The Data Zords materialized before us quickly. We all jumped into our respective ones.
"Commence Megazord transformation sequence!" said Red.
I felt myself being pulled away from the cockpit. I floated up into the sky until the sensation stopped. I looked down and could see what was happening from an angle above the action. Piece by piece the Data Zords transformed until they were all properly attached in their designated locations.
Then my T-Rex transformed into additional pieces of armour. Some pieces went on the Megazord's head, others went on each foot. When all the pieces were in place, it looked different and stronger than usual.
"Cyber Rex Megazord, online!" we announced together.
"This new Megazord should be just what we need to take down this virus again." said Blue.
"I'll bet we have a new weapon." I said.
Orange fiddled with her control panel and the Megazord took off into the air. Then Red and Blue pressed buttons on their panels to command the arms. When they were finished, the Megazord was holding a bow.
The virus started sharpening some jumbo javelins and readied them above its head. It launched three in quick succession, and I watched as Green and Yellow pushed a bunch of buttons to make the Megazord dodge all three.
Red and Blue made the Megazord aim the bow and pull the string. As it held the string back, a massive arrow made of binary appeared out thin air and locked itself onto the string of the bow.
The Megazord released the string and arrow flew straight through the Virus' face. The virus became rigid and fell over backwards before exploding, sending more binary code flying.
Later on, back at Headquarters, Jenna was explaining to everyone else her theory of how Trojan freed himself from Cyberspace when Silver limped downstairs leaning on a cane for support. He had an eye patch over his left eye and bandages on his right shoulder.
"Don't celebrate just yet," he said, sounding like he had just ran around the planet nine times, "This is only the beginning."
"You're supposed to be in bed." snapped Jenna, scoldingly.
"The beginning of what?" asked Chloe.
"The beginning of the end," said Riley, "This is where Trojan makes his final stand."