Dr. O had commented to them more than once that Murphy had probably been a Ranger. Until now, Conner had always figured that to be a joke. But now? Nooooooooo, it wasn't enough to get caught on a simple, near-foolproof break-in, of course. No, we have to fucking walk RIGHT INTO SPD's elite Ranger squad... Rumored to have quite a list of exploits to their name in their as-yet young career, and thus far total success at containing whatever dumbass galactic scum had decided Earth was worth conquering this time around.
If he didn't survive this, Conner decided, he'd be up with whatever deities had created the universe. At which point he was going to find the one which controlled Ranger luck and-
"Let's make this one simple for you guys, since y'all seem a bit dim. We're pros. YOU got lucky with stolen morphers. That you were overcharged for, by the way, they're fugly", SPD Red's voice lowered to a whisper. "So POWER DOWN RIGHT THE HELL NOW!!!!!!", he roared, making everyone jump. "You just crossed a major line in terms of pissing us off, AND added several extra charges to the count. I'll tell you right now, though, it gets a lot worse to add 'assault upon SPD personnel' to the list". Red's voice got more furious with every word.
Conner's mind raced, trying to think, balancing aggression with caution. Then, a single fact presented itself with complete clarity in his mind: We surrender, we lose the Gems. Unthinkable. Besides, he'd seen the smug looks on the squad's face as they'd walked in. Young, successful, on top of the world, heroes before they were twenty. Just for that, he hated them. He didn't need a telepath to know the team felt likewise.
"Say, kid, what's with the big numbers on the chests? SPD forget to teach you how to count?"
Jack's face reddened beneath the mask. "Grab them, people. And I'm not particular about gently". Jack advanced on Dino Red, and was barely aware of the Ranger hurling at him, into him and past him in one smooth motion, knocking him over. Jack twisted on his way down, getting up turned around, in time to watch the Dino Thunders rushing out the door. They no doubt thought they'd get out the front entrance before anyone could stop them.
This assumption was based on a complete lack of passages to the roof or ground in Kat's lab. Several seconds later, he led his team to the rooftop, where the poser-Rangers could be sighted just running out. "Right. Bridge, take Blue, Sky take Black. They're more your builds. Syd, take White. Z... well, figure it out. Let's make this quick and clean... NOW!", Jack leaped off the rooftop, yelling a battle cry as he hit the ground perfectly oriented, in front of the Dino Thunders.
"Going somewhere?"
"Sure", Dino Red snarled. "Were you planning to stop that somehow?", he asked as he lunged at Jack. Jack didn't waste his breath on replying, as he saw the battle being joined all around him. He swatted aside a reverse punch aimed at his chest, attempting a kick to the abdomen that was blocked. He waited for his opponent's next blow, a right hook, caught it, grabbed the guy's other arm and attempted to come in with a knee strike.
Dino Red launched off the ground before it landed, jumping over Jack's head, arms still entwined. He twisted as he landed, tangling their arms further. Before Jack could get oriented on the enemy at his back, he felt a kick to the knee, and then a knee to the head, driving him into the dirt and forcing the release of his grip.
Before Red could capitalize, Jack instinctively rolled to the side and kicked out with his right leg, warding off Red's follow up. He jumped to his feet in a defensive position, eyeing his opponent with an increased respect. "Nice trick. For a rookie", he grinned, and charged in. As Red sent a kick at him, Jack dodged, and jumped into a leg-twist, grabbing the opponent's balancing leg between his two, and twisted. As he disengaged, he saw Red sprawl down unceremoniously in the concrete. Red somersaulted backwards before Jack could move, however, landing on his feet.
"'Rookie'?", Red said mockingly. "You're an ignorant bunch, aren't you?"
Jack lunged.
Kira eyed her opponent appraisingly, trying to size her up. Before much of that could be done, however, SPD Yellow charged in at her. Kira flipped back, trying to avoid closing the distance. She hated grappling in her fights. As a punch came in, she grabbed it by the wrist and sent her opponent to the ground with a simple throw.
Or would have, at least, had Yellow not easily stayed on balance, closed the distance, and elbowed her in the neck with a free hand. She followed it up with a punch to the throat. Kira staggered back, breath lost for a second. She blocked the next punch, twisting the arm to keep her opponent back, and kicked her in the gut.
It was Yellow's turn to stumble back, and Kira followed up with a flurry of punches. She felt them all being blocked, and then saw her wrist was caught. Kira kicked straight up, breaking the grip. Before the Dino Ranger could even bring her leg down, however, she was aware of Yellow slamming into her, knocking her off balance to the ground.
Kira got back on her feet fast, but not fast enough. SPD Yellow collapsed on top of her, straddled her arms and pinned her down. "Gotcha", Yellow smirked. No you don't, bitch...
With Ranger strength, she bent impossibly far at the waist, sending her legs to hook in her opponent's arms, pinning her back, and preventing the weight of her body from settling on Kira's arms. Both women jumped away from each other's now-loosened grips. SPD lunged in, attempting to close once more. This time, however, she came slightly too fast, and Kira delivered a short punch to the ribs, which elicted not so much as a grunt, nor the slight retreat she'd been anticipating.
Instead, SPD grabbed her by the neck and by her weapon belt, and threw her down to the ground, a place she was quickly wearying of, on her front. Before this could lead to a stomp on the spine, she rolled to the right, catching the girl in her leg and sending her to the ground as well.
Yellow inclined her head as she got up. "Nice recovery. But you've just taught me something real important here"
"What?"
"You don't like close combat. Which means you're bad at it. And, news flash, lady: It's my specialty. Time for some pain"
Kira dodged back.
This guy doesn't crack!, Sky thought frantically, as his Black-clad opponent calmly countered each and every one of his maneuvers. There'd been no taunting, no belligerence, just straightforward combat from both sides. This guy seemed to believe he was a pro. Time to break from the standards, if he wanted to rattle him. Sky initiated a straightforward set of punches at his opponent, a vanilla drill, hoping the illusion of predictability would hold.
As Dino Black began to block, always keeping in a balanced stance with no especial weakness, Sky grimaced. He'd hoped to move the guy's focus off-center before doing this. No choice. He faked his next low jab…. and jump-kicked off a nearby pillar, hoping to get a flying headshot in. SPD Blue was astonished to find his arm grabbed, and himself being thrown against the wall.
Sky reflexively kicked off before he could hit the wall, coming back at his opponent, going for the torso. Black suddenly dropped to the floor, grabbed Sky by his torso, and slammed him into the pillar, back first. Sky winced, the pillar was stone, and the slam had Ranger strength behind it. The Blue Ranger lay in a heap. As he got up, he saw Black waiting quietly in a defensive stance. This guy's worked my last nerve…
Sky bull-rushed his opponent, head-butting him straight in his guard. As a surprised Ranger fell back, off-balance, Sky followed up by closing, elbowing Black in the neck, and grabbing his arm with a free hand. He quickly got in a stomach shot with his knee, and twisted the man's arm behind his back, reaching for his other arm. This was done. He'd restrain him and wait for backup to demorph this prick.
"You have the right to-"
Suddenly, in an instant, Black Ranger had turned the tables, releasing Sky's grip and establishing his own. Before Sky could respond, he felt his wrist being yanked in a direction wrists were not meant to be yanked in, and saw a kick rushing at him, two, three kicks, gut, chest, helmet. He went flying back as Black Ranger released the grip.
"Nice try, kid. Back off before I hurt you".
Sky staggered back, shaking his head quickly to clear it, while bringing up his guard. Surprisingly, Black was actually waiting for him to "back off", not pushing the advantage. He'll regret that. He faked a charge, hoping to and succeeding in drawing a punch.
Rather than block it, he grabbed it, yanked his opponent forward, then pushed him back while sweeping the leg at the back of the knee joint. Black Ranger folded on the ground. Sky quickly followed up with a harsh hammer blow to the chest. Not as damaging as it would be to an unmorphed opponent, but still painful. His follow-up was interrupted by Black kicking him in the chest with one foot, and wrapping his knee with the other, in essence duplicating Sky's earlier maneuver.
Sky allowed himself to fall back….. then braced with his arms in time to support a kick that caught Black Ranger just below the helmet, with a satisfying CRACK. As the pseudo-Ranger staggered back, Sky came up in a defensive stance, waiting for his opponent to make the next move.
"I see humility doesn't set in as you reach…. old age"
He could swear Black was smiling beneath the helmet before he jumped forward.
"…. Old age?"
Sky brought up his next block just in time.
Ethan glared daggers at the Green-suited kid in his way. He considered telling him to move. For all of five seconds. I don't want this kid out of my way. I want him on the floor, begging to never, ever be in my way again.
"Y'know, that was a pretty good plan you guys had. I mean, you would've been ID'd from your auras even if we hadn't caught you on the spot, but the distraction was nice"
Their WHAT?!
"Oh yeah, I can, uh, read auras. Your brain leaves stuff behind everywhere, and I can see it. How don't YOU? I mean, everyone's so…. sloppy with that. They'll cover fingerprints and all, and leave their brain, the best ID there is, on the scene. Really kinda weird when you think about it. You really can't tell that you're…. leaking? All over the place…."
Dino Blue was NOT in the mood for incoherent crap. Oh, to hell with it. He went for the ThunderMax blaster at his waist, intending to shoot the kid down in mid-babble. He had barely brought the gun up before a white-gloved hand snatched at it, twisting the gun upward and grabbing it away from him smoothly.
Before he could respond, he was aware of abdominal pain, and went back wheezing. At which point his brain caught up with events, and realized his oddball opponent had switched from verbal spewage to action faster than he could draw a pistol.
"Like right now? I felt a bit of rage and homicidal intentions. See what I mean about sloppy? Oh, you're getting madder now. You should probably see a therapist for that once you get your cell organized back in HQ. SPD's got some pretty good-"
That insolent little piece of…
Ethan silenced his opponent with a nice sucker punch, remembering just in time to make it a jab instead of a right hook, which would just bounce off the helmet. It was SPD Green's turn to stagger back, and Ethan capitalized on it, whacking the jaw again with an uppercut, and following with a full power punch to the torso, just below the rib cage. He heard a gasp from his opponent from that one.
His kick to the groin was caught by the kid, twisted and sent to the floor in a move Dr. O had derided once as the mother of all novice maneuvers. Green then suddenly came in for a stomp-
OW
Turnabout might be fair play. In this case, it was also painful. Ethan quickly decided to move the kid's attention elsewhere. Kicking him in the chest to release the leg Green still held, Ethan quickly rolled away and got up. The little prick was gonna PAY for that…..
"I doubt that. Unless you've got SPD training, I think I've got an advantage. Not like you couldn't be a good amateur and all, but what're the odds? That you'd be a street crazy who's good at fighting? I mean-"
Ethan attempted another shot, but Green calmly ducked, charged in and snatched Ethan up by the waist with Ranger strength, flipping a surprised Blue Ranger onto his back. Not too surprised to sweep his opponent's outstretched leg, however, bringing the SPD officer to the ground as well. They both grabbed at each other preventing the other from rising.
"Y'know, cheap shots only work when I'm not paying attention. Kind of dumb to try them more than once. You're just sloppy all over, huh?"
"Junior, you haven't even gotten me started yet"
Despite the situation, Syd couldn't help but think "nice design" when looking at White Ranger's costume. The red stripes really complemented the helmet and-
Right. Bad guy. Or at least street crazy with Ranger powers. Who was charging in at her, no subtleties. SPD Pink neatly side-stepped the initial charge, going in for a quick punch to the rib cage before backing off. As White turned to her, she avoided his next punch, hopping back out of range. A quick chop to his neck and she was back on the defensive, backing off from the response. She hadn't slowed him down yet, but that was all right. He was the guy in a hurry here, not her. So long as she could stop him from leaving, that was enough. He'd panic, do something stupid and she'd have him.
"Gee, the nimble martial artist is dodging the big thug. Is this the part where I scratch my head and head-butt you?". White Ranger's voice was abnormally deep. Weird. And more than a little disturbing.
She came in with a perfect high kick to the neck, hoping to swat him a little harder for that comment. White Ranger ducked under, came forward and sent her into an improvised cartwheel to stay off the floor. She brought up her guard, knowing he was pushing her mistake for all it was worth. While that was enough to block his initial punch, he then just SNATCHED at her guard, yanked it aside and kneed her hard in the ribs. Syd backed off, a little more frantic. This guy was not nearly as blind as he looked.
OK, the psychological advantage had been lost, she could either get in his face or let him go. He wasn't going to be afraid of her. Time for plan B, which suited the "SPD Princess" fine. She charged straight at her opponent, breaking away from his guard at the last minute to hit him in the neck, hard this time. Rather than back off, she went lower with a kick to the kidneys, eliciting a satisfying THWACK. As he reached for her, she backed off for an instant before grabbing his outstretched hand, twisting the arm setting it up for a very painful kick. It wouldn't break bones, not through a Ranger suit, but it would hurt. Suddenly, she felt the pressure slack as she realized she'd been too slow. White Ranger closed, grabbed her by the neck and yanked her away from his arm.
Merde. Up close, all the advantages belonged to the bigger guy. She had to get out. Now. She brought her heel into a backwards instep, hitting the groin. White's grip was released. Instantly. Syd quickly backed off, being careful to stay between him and the exit to the courtyard. OK, fighting on a half-night's sleep after a bad day wasn't optimal.
Yelling, she charged forward at him, hoping the unusual tactic would disorient. She readied a punch, a nice wind-up punch to the chest that would have all the force of her charge behind it. White, unfazed, ran at her in a similar fashion. We'll see who beats who. They closed, swung….
And Syd found herself flying backwards, literally, both feet off the ground. Approximately 3 meters later, she was re-acquainted with said ground. Hard. Looking up, she saw White Ranger standing coolly, hardly moved. SPD Pink shivered inwardly at his glance. Felt vaguely…. violating.
OK. Let's not do that again.
Not bad for a newbie, Conner thought. OK, better than him, considering the years it had been since he'd put on the Red Ranger suit. But what kept tripping up the kid was that he tried to take down Conner like a common thug, meaning a variety of maneuvers designed to flashily intimidate, not for effectiveness. Not very useful against a skilled opponent. No doubt SPD training didn't include much on other Rangers. Not surprising considering how hard SPD had worked to bring all Ranger powers into their custody.
Suddenly, Dino Red was aware of the other Red Ranger drawing two pistols from their waist holsters. Crap.
"Delta Blasters!", SPD Red yelled as he triggered rapid-fire on the weapons, laser blasts impacting Conner. Quickly and painfully. "C'mon, man. Out of tricks or quips? Cause my patience for your sorry ass is ENDED." He looked a lot more confident now, on his own ground.
Conner dodged to the right before his opponent could get off another volley, thought process racing. For a moment, he considered drawing his own blaster, but decided against it. SPD was obviously good with those guns, and moving the battle to his specialty might be… bad. Which left one other weapon in the suit's arsenal.
Dino Thunder Red stopped dodging and jumped forward, straight into his opponent's next volley. As he did so, he summoned his own personal weapon, and thrust it straight out to impact a surprised SPD Red in the chest.
"Tyranno Staff!"
As SPD Red fell back, Conner exploited the surprise, knowing another crack like this wouldn't be forthcoming. If his opponent backed off to gun range again, he'd regain the advantage. Conner swung the Staff at SPD, catching him across the chest with the Tyranno-head repeatedly. The one with sharp, Ranger-suit-penetrating teeth. He'd had to eat blows from that staff from more than one monster, and it was not fun. The kid stumbled back satisfyingly, rubbing his chest.
He kept up a steady volley of swings, not letting up, knowing that that mattered more than any appreciable damage. He had to DISARM his opponent, that was primary. And not give him a chance to recover in the meantime. Maybe drive him toward a wall and wail away, at least make him throw away the guns to defend himself.
Ah, there was the wall now. They'd gotten there rather fast-
Uh oh.
SPD kicked off the nearby wall, over Conner's head, landed about a foot off, and brought up his pistols while backing off at a run, opening up all that distance Conner had been so eager to close. Dino Thunder Red inwardly cursed as he dodged from the expected retaliation…. Then an idea occurred to him. If he liked psychological tricks…..
Jack grinned as he managed to get Dino Red in his sights. That had been close and all, but the idiot had failed to realize what a pro could do in a Ranger suit. Time to end this crap. Jack squeezed the trigger, letting bolts loose...
To impact against Dino Red's staff. Again. And again. The guy was managing to... block his shots? The hell? Nobody was that fast.
A shame Star Wars is before the current generation, else this kid would REALLY be shitting himself...
Of course, Conner wasn't actually fast enough to block laser bolts. Ranger reflexes weren't faster-than-light, after all. But if he could simply match the angle of his staff to that of SPD's thrust-out wrists, he could block a few shots. At least enough for the kid to gape long enough for Conner to close again...
Ah
He was close now, and had gotten there quickly enough that SPD's arms were still extended. Time to disarm this prick. Conner hit his opponent's wrists from beneath with the Staff, sending the pistols flying into the air, and the Staff in the kid's hands. The kid stumbled back with his new weapon, as Conner jumped back and smoothly snatched the pistols out of the air on his way down.
He quickly squeezed off a volley, amused to see SPD attempting to block with the Staff, before a stray bolt to the wrist made him drop it.
From his command screens, Commander Anubis Cruger watched the whole scene unfold.
Watched his handpicked B-Squad confront the burglars.
Watched them not be run down by professionals like the scum they were within five seconds.
Watched a simple arrest turn into an all-out five-way duel.
And finally, watched his squad's leader fall, demorphed, to his own weapons. He watched as Jack's counterpart came up to him, kicking his morpher out of his hand, sending it skittering across the courtyard, and shooting it into a pile of scrap.
As Cruger watched, a growl beginning to form in his throat, Dino Red walked away, demorphing, then suddenly turning into a blur as he ran off, away from HQ, into the city. No doubt exulting over his prize.
Apparantly I underestimated the danger here...
Time to correct that problem. Cruger hit the general battle alarm, to signal cadets to their stations. He then picked up his morpher, and headed for the door.