"Five beers, was it?", the man behind the bar grunted. "Yeah, bring em' out. I see them coming", Trent Fernandez hurriedly slapped down payment for the drinks. He then turned to survey the approach of his friends. Are we friends? Or just people with a common suffering? Once, that would not have been a question, but now…
Now, Trent wasn't sure of anything. Once he would have confidently said it could never have come to this. But then, once he'd never have matched the brash, swaggering Conner McKnight with the lost-looking man approaching. Once, he'd have said nothing could destroy the childish eagerness of Ethan James, nor kill Tommy Oliver's air of quiet resolve and confidence. Once… Once, I'd have said those eyes could never belong to Kira Ford. Nothing so lifeless belonged on her. And yet, something had done all those things. For himself, he hadn't minded so much – he'd always been something of a brooder. Not that he'd suffered less, but there was a sort of stoic quality to it. He'd never thought to really be happy. The Ranger loss was just one more thing to add to the pile.
But for the rest of the former Dino Thunder team? They'd all been prepared to take on life and win, knocking it flat. His gem had picked him for his darkness. The rest had been chosen for their greatness. Greatness of what, he didn't know, but emphatically great, and NOT the group now approaching the bar. Something WAS different though – the resigned lack of purpose he usually saw in them had been replaced. Replaced by something harder, if not necessarily better. A grim determination, like that of a man swimming for a lifeline. In a way, that might be worse, considering the lifeline.
"Trent, man. Snap out of it", Conner punched him on the shoulder in a friendly sort of a way, as the former White Drago Ranger blinked and realized his friends had seated themselves near him at the bar. "Uh… Look. Conner called this meeting, but I think we all know what can be said. We're here, in Newtech City, and we need to convince SPD to hand over the Gems". Trent had never really learned to like public speaking, however many board meetings he'd attended.
"True enough. But it might not be that simple, guys", Dr O's voice broke in. "I mean, yeah, they're ours, but SPD may not see it that way. Ranger teams don't exactly publish personnel rosters", their former teacher chuckled, as the rest of them half-laughed. "Hell yeah, Dr. O would know if anyone would", Ethan grinned a sort of maniacal grin. Trent attempted to ignore the smoker-drinker roughness that had crept into that voice. Man had come a long way from high school geek.
"Look, I've kinda stayed out of touch, but SPD are the good guys, last time I checked", Kira's would-be bright voice broke in. In a way, it was worse than the depressed tone he'd found in her that night a week ago. This tone wasn't bright. It was desperate. "We don't wanna hurt them, we just need the gems. We'll file a request, go through the bureaucracy. I'm sure if we explain the situation right, it'll be no problem. I mean, who knows the details of those Gems better than us, right?". Seemed reasonable enough, assuming SPD was pre-disposed to listen to claims. No reason they wouldn't. Of course they'd listen.
"Well then… There's no point in hanging around, is there? Let's do it!", Conner lifted his glass. He seemed to be the most normal one there. Or maybe his old leader instincts were re-asserting themselves. Action over talk. Yeah, that at least, was the Red Ranger he remembered. "To the Power Rangers", Trent clinked his glass against Kira's. "To the Power Rangers", the team chorused, almost like old times at Hayley's.
Of course SPD would listen. How could they not?
"Blue, this is Yellow, do you copy? I need some long-range support here!", Elizabeth "Z" Delgado hurriedly dodged to the side, praying her message had gotten through, as the Krybot horde closed in. She raised her Deltamax Striker in a two-handed melee grip(trying to use the ranged mode this close was worse than useless), and swung it hard at the turning-too-slowly Krybot. It flew back at it's fellows, as the rest of them got oriented on the threat. Z swallowed hard, as Orangeheads leered at her(insofar as a robot could) while Blueheads got their cannon in position to wail on her from afar. The run-of-the-mill black bots moved into position to shield both types from her. It wasn't like she COULDN'T beat them alone, but it would take a better day than she was having now.
We are a team, Tate, now get your sorry- BLAST! A blue streak left a Bluehead in pieces as Z's radio crackled to life "Got you covered, Yellow. Initiate maneuver 42 and proceed to the retrieval point.". Then, a pause. "Go get 'em, Street Rat.". Z grinned. He HAD loosened up. Sorta. "Copy-", Z stopped for a moment to begin slamming aside the black bots, and suddenly had to duck the big ol' Orangehead sword at her head. Shit. "Blue, pick off the long-range stuff. I can handle the rest.". Handle it? She'd survived the streets of Newtech with most parts, ah, intact. Jerks with big toys were her bread and but-
Ow. Or well, not so easy. That sword packed a punch. She swung her Striker underhand to rip off Orange's chest armor, and rolled in to shove the metal object right up to his head. Quickly, before it could collapse, it she kicked off the metallic corpse to free her weapon faster and give her some lift over the horde. She landed on a nearby cliff – had to love these rock quarries – and grinned as Krybots, too stupid to realize the term "high ground", charged up at her. She went into a frenzy, smashing them down as fast they tried to swarm up. An arm off here, a headshot there, it made no difference. These boys were going down, now that she was hitting her stride. She calmly hit the floor on her belly as another Orange roared in at her. He stopped when a pair of yellow boots flew up from a too-fast handstand to knock his head half-off. Too little weight-room time. Shoulda come off all the way. A Striker remedied the issue, as she snatched up the cannon arm of another Kry to throw off his blast.
Which was the last one he got off before his arm was dislocated and it went down in a blue spark. All right. She was gonna win this. Maneuver 42 THIS, Blondie, she thought smugly. She didn't need a defensive drill. "Oh, yes you do. Now quit playing, and move to the extraction point". For a guy with a permanent stick up the ass, Sky was WAY too perceptive at times. "Fine, fine. You owe me an off-base dinner for this", she mock-grumbled into the suit mike. Extraction point was right there, cut a path of least resistance through the-
"Huh?". The rocks began vanishing, her own footing beginning to glow as it disappeared. "Simulation emergency override", a mechanical voice announced, as Z found herself in SPD Headquarters Danger Room. A few feet off, Sky Tate didn't look any happier than her to see the sim interrupted. "Bridge, if that's you fiddling again…", SPD Blue snapped in his best drill-sergeant tone, then cut off as someone quite different walked in. Katherine Manx, SPD's top analyst.
"Kat?", Z asked, puzzled. The doc's work was not given to inspiring emergencies, last she'd checked. "Sky. Z. Come on. I've pulled Jack, Bridge and Syd out of their classes. You guys need to see this.". Hm. A new toy? Syd, at least, would squee her head off. She loved that stuff. Z, on the other hand…. Gimme a Striker, open ground, and outta my way. She supposed nice things simply naturally took a back-seat with her in the value department. At least as opposed to the SPD princess.
It'd better be something good, whatever it was. She hated having her in-the-zone times interrupted.
Jack Landors, former thief, street champion, SPD Red, stared at Kat and Commander Cruger unbelievingly. "Please tell me they're joking". They had to be. No sane person was gonna file that kind of claim. Not even guys on drugs could be THAT stupid. "It appears to be a genuine claim, Cadet Landors. These five seem to be claiming the Dino Gems as their property.", Commander Cruger said, ever calm. "Sir, why is this B-Squad's problem? Just throw a copy of the Ranger Act at them.". That act specifically forbade any and all use of Ranger powers outside Galactic Alliance authorization(of which SPD was the sole conduit on Earth). It was a great way to clean up the sheer clutter of Ranger teams around known space.
And it shut up these kinds of crazies. Or at least it should have. "It is your problem, cadets, because they seem to know that Kat and Boom managed to re-power the Dino Gems. That was NOT common knowledge", Cruger glared at him. Well, maybe his tone had been a little out of line at that. But hey, screwballs walking up demanding Ranger powers? That was just out of the blue. "Sir. Are you suggesting we made the leak?", Sky's stiffly formal, yet offended tone broke in. "I suggest nothing, Cadet Tate. But you five are the only ones who knew about the Gems and our research".
Weird. Jack doubted the big blue dog was suggesting they'd leaked the info. If Anubis "Doggie" Cruger thought anyone was guilty of violating the SPD code of trust, they wouldn't be in a briefing room. They'd be ten feet underground, having gotten there through a physical pounding and maybe a few slams with the Sirian's beloved Shadow Saber. D.C didn't play games when it came to SPD. "So…. If we're not under suspicion, commander, then… what are we supposed to do?", Jack asked.
"You remain careful, Rangers. I doubt the claimants are the perpetrators behind this – likely this has reached the level of a street rumor. If a crack in our security leaked this, Grumm will find that crack sooner or later.", Cruger rumbled, his tone betraying his concern. As did his addressing them as fellow Rangers rather than cadets. So, yeah, that made sense. They weren't here to be chewed out. They were here because they were the only people Cruger trusted at the moment. The commander was worried because an unleakable secret – one known only to the B-Squad - had been leaked.
As Jack walked out the door, idly hoping he hadn't missed too many classes over this, he found himself grinning, despite the danger. Once in a while, it was nice to remember just how highly Cruger regarded them. Even if he did chew their asses out the rest of the time.
Hope I do get my hands on these guys. If they know SPD secrets…
Nah. Just a bunch of delusional losers who'd heard a rumor. That had to be all.
"Huh? What do you mean, denied! This request can't be denied!", Kira Ford came very close to wailing at the telescreen. "I'm sorry, Miss Ford. Or rather, officially sorry. Unofficially, take your group of loonies and jump off a bridge before you guys pollute the gene pool. And read a little legislation.", the wiseass secretary smirked at her on-screen. "Even if you had used the Gems – in which case, I was the Brown Dino Thunder Ranger, remember me? – Ranger Act means the Gems are SPD property anyway.". Ranger Act? I knew I should've kept in touch more.
After a not-too-veiled threat that SPD would be watching them from now on due to their having acquired this apparently Terribly Secret information, and an official invitation to contest the matter in court if she wished, the telescreen went blank. Kira considered letting her last spark of hope die with it. She knew it wasn't healthy, but dammit, they were so close! Who the hell did SPD think they were, restricting access like that!
"Kira? I heard some voices. What happened?", Tommy's voice came from behind her, emerging from the bathroom. Or what passed for a bathroom in the dingy flophouse the five of them had rented until they could conclude this business. "SPD… they….", Kira stuttered, still in shock. "They're not giving us the gems?", the former Black asked quietly. Kira nodded. She noticed that he didn't seem overly surprised by the news. Nevertheless, his face grew harder than she had ever seen it.
"Well, then….", Ethan got up from his mattress, grinning that discomforting grin of his again. "SPD's being jerks. Figured they'd do that. Always were."
"I guess we need to…", even Trent looked gut-punched by this bit of news. She'd have figured him to take the pain best of them all. Then again…. He convinced himself he didn't need this hope. Now that he realizes he does… He'd be more obsessed by it than any of them. All or nothing, that was her high-school boyfriend.
"We all know, man. Question is – are we all ready?", Conner stood tall, getting up from his mattress quickly. He seemed to have revived his old spirit in honor of the Gems' return. Like it had never been gone, just buried.
And of course, they were all ready. They all nodded silently, committing themselves to the task.
It wasn't right for SPD to control the gems like that. The Gems were theirs, hers! If those dog-badge-wearing pricks weren't gonna give them up, well….
We'll just have to take them back. And if SPD gets in our way… they'd just better not.