Chapter 5
Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'
Oh, I reach for you
Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry, I'm fallin', I'm fallin'
~Nickelback, 'Savin Me'
XR lay motionless in what had become his usual spot, curled up into his usual little ball. He listened to NOS getting ready for the hunt, hearing it as though from a great distance. Senses failing. Well, that was to be expected. There was little left in him that was still functioning. If nothing else, this entire experience was becoming completely predictable. NOS left, he had a few hours of peace, NOS came back, NOS tortured him, he got weaker, NOS got stronger, NOS left again. A twisted sort of merry-go-round. And in a bizarre, pathetic sort of way, XR had come to rely on this dreadful routine. It was all he was absolutely sure of anymore.
The soft clattering and clicking stopped suddenly and XR stiffened. This… this was something different. He hadn't heard the wings, the wings were supposed to come before the silence. NOS wasn't supposed to stay here, NOS was supposed to leave and give him his few hours of peace, this just wasn't right…
Weakly he lifted his head, straining to see into the darkness. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything… maybe NOS had gone, maybe his senses had just gotten so bad he just hadn't heard the wings, maybe…
A pair of clawed hands seized him, lifting him off the ground so quickly his head spun. He gasped sharply; when his vision focused he stared wide-eyed at NOS-4-A2, who leered back at him.
His mind protested vehemently. No. No, this wasn't right, this wasn't right at all, NOS-4-A2 hadn't left for the hunt yet. He was supposed to leave for the hunt first, he wasn't supposed to attack him NOW, what was going on?!?
The energy vampire dove forward, his fangs piercing XR's torso with a sickening clunk.
XR tensed, gasping and sputtering. He couldn't make a sound, could barely move. He could feel every amp as it left him, and an absurd part of him tried desperately to hold on to them somehow - he wasn't sure how many he had left.
The pain was worse than ever, thanks to his badly weakened system. He could feel it, pushing in where his energy had left, seeping into every part of his worn body… he couldn't stand any more…
He let out a plaintive wail. Something deep within him snapped and the wail seemed to echo- intensify, swell, become a SCREAM- a high-pitched, mechanical siren from deep down inside his chest.
---
Booster sat in his usual seat, drumming his fingers anxiously on the screen in front of him. No luck, still no luck… every single time they went out, no luck… you'd think by now they would've found at least something…
Something suddenly appeared on his monitor. A solid whine emitted from it. Booster jumped, leaning over the screen, his heart racing. That signal seemed familiar… Could it be…?
He did a systems check on the frequency. It was…
Booster's heart soared. He sat straight up, cheering.
"Hey guys! Guys! I got a distress signal from XR!"
Mira whirled around in her seat, eyes wide. Buzz turned and fixed Booster with a serious look.
"You sure about that, Booster?"
"Uh-huh! Positive! It's him, Buzz, it's really him!" he shouted, bouncing up and down in his seat.
"Where's it comin' from?"
"Uh…" Booster leaned over the monitor, squinting. "Tradeworld, Buzz!"
"Tradeworld?!" Mira squeaked. "But we checked there!"
"We must've missed something; the energy vampire's notoriously stealthy," Buzz said, turning back with a determined look. "Booster, set a course for Tradeworld, and trace the exact location of that signal!"
"Yes sir!" Booster saluted, leaning over his monitor with barely-contained joy. They were going to find him, finally…
---
NOS-4-A2 wrenched his fangs out of XR, watching with pleasure as the little robot shuddered in agony. He tossed the thing back down to the ground. XR hit the concrete hard, wincing against the sharp impact before going ominously still.
"Just a taste of what's to come, little one," the energy vampire purred.
He opened his wings, soaring up through the window. The sound of his wings slowly faded, leaving nothing but the awful revving of XR's tired engine.
XR rolled onto his side, shivering. That last attack had been unusually unbearable. He didn't have much energy left. Sniffling, he lifted one hand to what served as his neck, running his fingers over the many punctures left there. Two for each night. Too many to count. All that time, and they still hadn't found him. That was the bad thing about being drained slowly and painfully. Eventually he'd run out of energy to drain. He didn't have much left, not much at all. One more drain would do it. He could feel it.
His time was up.
He curled up into a ball, too tired and out of it to want to cry, or even to be all that sure he wanted to live... oh well. Either way was fine.
---
The soft night breeze blew across her face and Mira shuddered slightly. The air seemed charged with anxiety.
She bit her lip unhappily, staring down at the dirty street. If XR was really down there, she should be able to sense his presence by now. Her Tangean intuition was good for that much... she hoped.
She shuddered again and raised her gaze to the dark, eerie night sky. Tradeworld had no stars. Too much pollution.
Catching the combined noise of Buzz's grunt and the manhole cover hitting the ground, she turned to see her teammate standing over an empty hole, frowning into it.
She crept closer, eyes wide and anxious, and looked down into it as well.
Behind them, Booster whimpered.
"Well, now or never…" Mira mumbled, running her tongue over her dry lips.
---
Mira scanned the room and shivered. This place was so creepy - dark, cold… and filled with lifeless shells of robots. She made a face. NOS-4-A2 was totally disgusting, keeping his victims' corpses around like that.
And speaking of victims… She was getting more and more worried; there was absolutely no life in this room, and she hadn't even seen…
"XR!" Booster shouted. He bounded across the room to his little friend.
Mira ran after him, heart pounding. They'd found him. Thank God, they'd finally found him, and he was... asleep, that was all, just sleeping- yeah, so much for preparing herself.
Oh well. It was better to hope.
"XR? XR, wake up!" Booster reached out and shook XR's shoulder. The little robot jumped and shouted. His eyes shot open.
Mira recoiled, her own eyes widening. He didn't- look right.
"AHH! Don't come any closer!"
His voice was slurred, and he almost seemed to be looking THROUGH Booster- but Booster was too upset to notice.
"What? XR, it's me, Booster!"
"No! Stay away! Stay away from me!"
The little robot turned away, curling up into a tight ball and emitting a pathetic whimper. His motions looked weak and uncoordinated. Mira bit her lip, getting down to her knees and reaching out to try and touch him somehow, comfort him- but he squirmed away, moaning.
"What's wrong with him?" Booster asked.
Mira shook her head. "I don't know. I-I don't think he knows who we are."
She could just barely feel the weak essence-of-self he was giving off. She usually felt XR so strongly- what happened?
"Why?" Booster pled. "How can he not know us?"
"I don't know, Booster…"
She looked up at her small teammate, frowning miserably. He was curled up into a tight ball, shielding his face and neck and trembling all over. It hurt to see him like that.
Suddenly a determined gleam came into her eye. Why hadn't she thought of this before?
"...but I know how we can find out."
She reached out, ghosting her hand through his helmet into his head. She took hold of his brain chip and closed her eyes, concentrating. It was difficult, XR began to flail and whimper, but she somehow managed to hold him down...
Booster watched wide-eyed. "What is it?" he breathed anxiously.
Mira shook her head again. Sometimes these things took time. She didn't even know if she could do this on robots. Maybe she couldn't. She started to doubt. XR was flipping around a lot. She wasn't even sure if it was going to work-
Then he went limp. It scared her into mustering up an extra burst of concentration. Finally something came to her. Her eyes opened wide.
"He was dreaming… he- he thought you were NOS-4-A2," she whispered in shock.
Booster's jaw dropped. "What?"
Mira shifted her hand slightly, frowning in disbelief. "The energy vampire's been torturing him… every night, he's been draining a little more of his energy."
"Oh no!" Booster moaned. "Poor XR!"
Mira started to pull her hand away, then paused, frowning. "Wait, wait… I'm getting something else…"
She closed her eyes again. Something was coming to her… something big…
She gasped, eyes flying open and hand jerking away. She scrabbled backwards, staring at XR in shock.
"What?" Booster asked urgently. "What is it?"
Mira gaped at her small teammate, taking deep, shaky breaths. When she finally spoke her voice was barely above a whisper. "I… I just felt…"
She was cut off by the whir of electrical wings. NOS-4-A2 appeared in the window, swooping down to hover before them.
"Well, Rangers, I see you've found my secret lair. I congratulate you," he said flatly.
Mira glared at him. Seething, she rose to her feet, moving to stand firmly between XR and NOS-4-A2. She held out her wrist laser, aiming directly at the energy vampire.
"You monster," she growled.
NOS-4-A2 stared back at her. If he'd had eyebrows they would be raised, however he didn't have them and so could only smirk incredulously. No, really. Tch. This was downright amusing. Something triggered in his memory codes; he thought back to his annoying little captive's delirious mumbling. The pretty Tangean… He grinned.
"Oh, really, isn't this charming. The plucky girlfriend standing up for her pathetic lover."
Mira's eyes widened. What the-
"I suppose I could wake him up and make him watch me kill you, but I can't trust that he'd be lucid."
Mira stared up at him, gasping. This man was unbelievable. Did he really think she and XR-
"OW!"
She'd let her guard down for barely an instant and he'd taken advantage of it, shoving her in the chest- hard.
"Mira!" Booster gasped, then rounded on the energy vampire. "Nobody hurts my friends!" he yelled, punching NOS-4-A2 hard in the face.
NOS spun in mid-air. He caught himself and shook it off, scowling at the space rangers. Tricky situation; this required him to use some of the juicy energy he'd absorbed from the little one. He hated to part with it - but he had no choice. And if it meant the rangers' demise, it would be worth it.
He concentrated on that energy, gathering it, building it up… he focused on pushing it outwards… he threw his hands up, sending a charge throughout the room which hit the various robots that lay lifeless around his lair.
The robots jerked to life, getting up to stand stiff and awkward all around him.
"Rise, my children, destroy the rangers!" he commanded, being sure to specify who to attack this time. In these kinds of operations, mistakes like that were really ego-damaging.
The robot zombies slowly turned toward Mira and Booster, who backed against each other, wrist lasers out.
Mira fired at the closest robot, then turned her laser on two others approaching from the side. Something grabbed her ankle and she shrieked. Looking down, she saw a dismembered robot hand clinging to her foot. She squealed in disgust and tried to shake the thing off, sending a carefully-aimed laser blast at the severed wrist.
The hand started to back away - but another zombie took advantage of the distraction to tackle her from behind, pinning her to the ground. She struggled to free herself but the robot's dead weight was too much. Booster noticed her plight and seized the robot, pulling it away effortlessly. In one smooth motion he turned and swung the zombie in his hands into an approaching line of attackers, smashing several of them into pieces.
Mira scrambled to her feet, narrowly dodging a robot with a chainsaw for an arm. She fired at the arm until it shattered, then aimed a kick at the robot's flimsy looking body.
Across the room Booster had just taken out a horde of zombies by sitting on them, and was now charging at a new group, apparently intent on smashing them into the wall. He was flattening the cursed machines by the dozen. They were lucky to have him on their team, really, she didn't know what they'd ever do without…
Something cold and hard suddenly seized her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. She yelped and kicked out against whatever had a hold on her, trying to twist around and fire at the thing. Before she could shoot – or even ghost away – the robot zombie lifted her over its head and pitched her across the room. For a few brief, terrifying moments she fell through total darkness, the sounds of the battle ringing in her ears. She came down, not on concrete, but on metal, on something small and hard and round. Stars exploded in her range of vision and she gave a yell of pain, biting her lip against the force of the impact.
Hers wasn't the only cry that rang out into the dark. She jumped a mile, shocked out of her wits by a sound like a tortured cat, only smaller and vaguely mechanical.
Mira sat up. She'd landed on XR. After all he'd been through, she had to go and crash into him. Sweet mother of Venus! Was ANYTHING going to go right tonight?
"XR, I'm so sorry!" she cried unhappily, knowing he probably wouldn't hear her.
XR jumped at the sound of her voice. He sat straight up, staring at her, his mouth wide open.
She winced, expecting another outburst from him. Mother of Venus, that was the LAST thing she needed right now.
Much to her surprise, he reached out, slowly, to touch her face.
"Mira?" he whispered, as though afraid it wasn't true.
"Yes…"
His hand lowered as it sunk in that she really was there. He stared at her a moment longer…
…and then he let out a pitiful cry, throwing his arms around her waist in the weakest cling she'd ever felt.
"Mira! I'm sorry! I'll be good! I swear I will, just please, please, don't let him hurt me anymore, don't let him hurt me anymore, please…!"
"XR, it's okay!" She grabbed his shoulders frantically. He didn't sound good. At all. He sounded nearly delirious. "Shh, don't worry! It's okay, I won't let him hurt you again, I promise…"
He stared at her with wide, pleading eyes. Mira bit her lip. She picked him up to cradle him awkwardly in her arms. He was lighter than she remembered- had NOS even bothered to feed his captive? Probably not.
"I promise," she said again, in a quiet tone. She was hoping he'd respond and give her some hope.
He didn't. He was shaking. And he wasn't talking. He should be talking. She pulled him closer, rubbing his back absentmindedly. She winced. He felt really hot to the touch. That couldn't be right.
Laser-fire cut into her thoughts. A fight was still underway; Buzz and Booster needed help.
…but XR needed protecting. Oh, man...
Her father's words echoed in her head, a queen looks after the populace, not the individual.
Mira carefully set XR down. She straightened up and turned, planting her feet in front of him, facing the situation with determination.
"Stay close to me," she told XR over her shoulder.
He blinked foggily up at her. Stay close? She was giving him permission to cut in on her personal space?
Well, he wasn't going to question it; his worst enemy was out to destroy him, he needed someone to cling to. And he wasn't thinking very clearly any more, anyway.
But he was weak on his feet. He shook and swayed. He tried to reach out and take hold of Mira's leg, but she moved before he could. She was moving, she was trying to fight off all the zombie robots, it was too fast, she was moving too fast for him…
Moaning slightly, he held out his arms to keep his balance. He shuffled along behind Mira, trying to keep up with her. It was hard.
She kept moving. He whimpered. Couldn't she see she was going too fast? He couldn't DO this! It was too hard!
Crying out weakly, he collapsed into a heap. It was too much for him.
Slowly he lifted his head and blinked into the darkness, trying to clear his vision. He could just barely make out Mira somewhere in front of him… she was definitely out of grabbing range. He summoned up what little strength he had left in him and began to try pulling himself across the room. The concrete scraped against his chest, his arms, aggravating countless wounds. But he had to keep up with Mira, he had to… if he didn't…
A dark figure descended before him, eclipsing his view of her. He gasped sharply; fearfully he glanced up into the energy vampire's face. NOS was staring down at him in deadly silence, frowning. XR yelped, hastily pushing himself backwards on fiercely wobbling limbs. NOS-4-A2 advanced slowly.
"Mira… Mira…" XR cried weakly.
"She can't save you, little one… no one can…"
"No… no, please, master, PLEASE! NO!"
XR. Mira turned and gasped. XR was up against a wall on the floor in a position somewhere between sitting and lying down, his hands clutching the base of his helmet. NOS-4-A2 was hovering over him.
"You think your rangers have won? Think again, little one… Your friends have forced me to end our time together."
"No no, please…" He shook his head.
"You wanted me to kill you, then so be it…"
XR screamed, shutting his eyes tight and backing as far against the wall as possible. Not NOW, he couldn't die NOW-
XR… "NO!" Mira hurtled toward them, her heart racing… NOS-4-A2 was closing in… she didn't have much time… She leapt forward and ghosted through NOS-4-A2.
XR cringed, bracing himself against the attack. He felt a pair of hands seize him around the middle. But they weren't sharp, cold, and metallic - they were soft, warm, and gentle… And then he had the strange sensation of being weightless… of being mass-less… There was only one person who could make him feel that way…
Mira…
He opened his eyes. Mira had pulled him back right through NOS-4-A2, leaving the energy vampire to crash headlong into the wall. She sprinted back across the room, pulling XR tight to her.
"Buzz, it's not safe for XR, I've gotta get him out of here!"
"Negative, Ranger, we need you here!" Buzz shot back, fending off another zombie robot.
Mira skidded to a stop, gracefully sliding in a loop and staring back at Buzz with wide eyes. I'm sorry. WHAT did you say?
"NOS-4-A2 is trying to shut XR down! If I don't get him out of here, we'll LOSE him!" she insisted in her most demanding princess voice, too busy to notice XR was hugging her neck weakly and staring behind her at NOS with a horrified look.
She didn't mention the emotional toll another attack would take on him. She had a feeling Buzz wouldn't understand. Then again, up until a few minutes ago, neither had she.
Buzz studied her determined face, glanced down at XR - who was still staring backwards in distress, too shell-shocked to do much else - then looked back at Mira.
"Alright," he sighed. Well, this WAS why they were here... "Get XR to safety, and we'll meet you back at 42 as soon as we can."
Across the room, NOS-4-A2 straightened up and spun around. He spotted XR and screeched, his eyes flaring with rage. XR pointed frantically.
"He's coming back, he's coming BACK!" he cried, burying his face in Mira's shoulder like a child. Wow, she thought unhappily, he's REALLY out of it. …Not like that's obvious or anything. Poor little thing...
"Mira, go! Booster, hold off the energy vampire!" Buzz ordered.
"You got it, Buzz!" Booster called out as he and Mira dashed off in opposite directions. Mira carefully activated her jetpack, tightening her hold on XR before kicking off from the ground.
Booster charged at NOS-4-A2, throwing all of his weight (quite a considerable amount, really) against the energy vampire, pinning him to the ground and prompting another enraged scream. XR whimpered in her arms as she soared up and through the thick concrete ceiling to the street above.