Return of an Old Evil
Disclaimer: Same as always.
A/N: Well, it's nearly over now. Just one more chapter to go!
Chapter 21
As soon as the rangers got back to the ship, Billy made a beeline for the bridge. Once there, he dashed to Andros's station and entered the data from the homing device into the computer. A moment later, the location of Ivan's base appeared on the main view screen.
Zack looked doubtfully at the image on the view screen. It was a large, nondescript asteroid seemingly in the middle of nowhere. "Are you sure about this, Billy?" He asked.
Billy nodded. "A hundred percent sure, Zack," he replied. "This is Ivan's base."
"But he could've teleported his machines somewhere else really fast. This could be where he teleported them," Zack insisted.
"Negative," Billy responded. "I activated the device's back-up program. It's picking up the energy signature of the remaining three machines and several hundred humans; most likely the captives from KO-35, as well as traces of Ivan."
"His base being inside an asteroid does makes sense," Andros spoke up. "I mean, it's pretty common for pirates and smugglers and the like to use hollowed-out asteroids as their bases. They make great disguises and furthermore, asteroid fields are difficult to navigate."
"Well, let's hurry up and get there so we can destroy his ass once and for all!" Rocky said loudly.
Andros nodded. "Right. DECA, initiate hyper rush at maximum to this location immediately!" He commanded.
"Coordinates locked on. Initiating maximum hyper rush now," she replied. As the AI finished speaking, everyone could feel the shuddering vibrations as the hyper burners engaged.
"DECA, what's our ETA?" Andros asked.
"Our ETA is approximately one hour, four minutes," the AI answered.
"Wow, his base is much closer than I thought it would be," Tommy said.
"No, it's pretty far. Not long before all of this started, we got a big upgrade on the hyper burners. That has enables us to triple our fastest hyper rush speed," Andros told him.
"Hey, what's going on? I felt the hyper burners engage. Where are we going?" A voice asked from the doorway.
They all turned and saw Zhane standing there looking healthier and stronger than he had in days.
"Zhane!" Andros exclaimed as Astronema rushed over and embraced him. "It's good to see you looking so well!"
"Thank you, Andros. It's good to finally be healthy! But what's going on?" He repeated.
"We're on our way to Ivan's base to finish this once and for all!" Andros told him.
"You mean, we know where it is?" Zhane asked, astonished.
Andros nodded. "Yes, thanks to Billy," he replied and went on to explain all about the homing device and planting it on one of Ivan's machines.
"Holy Shit!" Zhane exclaimed, looking at Billy in amazement, who promptly blushed. "You're amazing!"
Billy blushed deeper. "I was just doing my part to help win this," he said, looking at the floor.
Jason saw that his friend was looking a little uncomfortable and decided to change the subject. "Well, I think I'm going to get a bite to eat while we have time," he said. "Trini, want to come with me?" He asked his girlfriend.
Trini nodded and smile softly at him. "Sure, that sounds good. I am a little hungry." She took Jason's hand in her own and the two of them headed for the Synthetron.
Several others moved to follow them including Andros. But before he got to the door, Zhane called out to him. "Andros, when we get there, I'm going in with you guys! DECA said I am now ninety-five percent back to normal." DECA immediately confirmed this.
Andros turned and smiled at him. "In that case, I wouldn't expect you anywhere else when we get there!"
Zhane gave a whoop of delight and hugged Astronema and then Andros. "Finally! The Silver is back!" He shouted excitedly.
Andros giggled at his best friends antics. It was so good to see him healthy again! He was smiling as he went to get something to eat.
Approximately one hour later, they were all gathered on the bridge again.
Andros whistled for silence then spoke. "Is everyone ready and clear on what they're supposed to do?" He asked.
They all nodded. "Affirmative, "Billy said.
"Good. As soon as we arrive DECA will teleport us inside," Andros said. "Billy, Carlos, TJ, Cassie, and Trini, are the explosives ready?" The five of them were going to plant explosives that would destroy the asteroid when detonated.
"Affirmative," Billy replied and held some up along with the other four.
"Excellent," Andros told them.
"ETA in two minutes," DECA informed them then.
"We're ready, DECA," Andros replied as Zhane went up to Astronema and took her in his arms. "This is it, Princess," he murmured softly, looking deeply into her eyes. "The final battle."
She nodded. "Yes, it is. Please be careful, my Silver Night. I want to be able to come back and find you here when it's over," she said earnestly, stroking his cheek.
"I promise, my Princess," he replied tenderly. "I'm always going to be here for you." He gave her a deep searing kiss that immediately had both of them hungry for more.
"I love you, Zhane," Astronema said softly.
"I love you too, Astronema," He replied and kissed her again, just as deep and passionate as before. They didn't stop until DECA's announced that they had arrived at their destination.
Andros, who had been locked in a passionate embrace with Ashley, immediately pulled back and looked at all of them. "Okay, guys, this is it. Let's go," he told them, looking at the huge asteroid that filled the view screen. Ivan had chosen his base well; from the outside you couldn't even tell that it was a secret base.
The others acknowledged him and the next moment they all morphed and then DECA teleported them all into the asteroid's hanger bay.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the hanger bay; it resembled dozens of others that Andros had seen. There was a couple of shuttles, supplies, lots of equipment, maintenance or otherwise, and the smell of lubricants that was all too common in any hanger bay.
Andros nodded to Billy, and the five in charge of the explosives immediately headed off to plant them.
Ashley headed to the console along one wall and immediately brought up a map of the entire base. "Guys, over here," she called. "I've got the layout of the base up on screen."
"Wow, it was that easy?" Tommy asked as they hurried over.
She nodded. "I guess Ivan never thought about security passwords or anything," she replied.
"Or he was counting on no one finding his base, that he just didn't bother with computer security," Jason pointed out.
"Well, whatever the case, we don't have time to discuss it now," Andros said. He pointed to a spot on the screen. "There's the assembly area. That's where we need to go. Come on!"
"The assembly room? Why there?" Zack asked, sounding confused.
"That's where his machines will most likely be undergoing repairs. Our first priority is making sure they get destroyed," Andros answered as they hurried out of the hanger and into a rocky corridor.
They followed the corridor until it forked off into two different directions. Andros recalled the map and headed left after only a moment's hesitation. After a couple hundred meters they came to a turbolift and took it down two levels. Exiting the turbolift, they headed for a big steel door about fifty meters away on their right.
They reached the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Andros spotted a keypad next to it and tried that, but that failed as well. "Damn it!" He yelled and kicked the door in frustration. "Why won't you open?"
Tommy put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry man, we'll find a way in," he tried to reassure him.
Andros started to reply when Astronema spoke up. "Wait I have an idea," she said. She raised her staff and pointed it at the door. "Everyone stand back." As soon as they were clear, she used it to blast purple energy at the door, which blew it to smithereens.
"You go, girl!" Tanya exclaimed as they steeped over the debris and entered the assembly area.
The first thing that they noticed was not the workstations or conveyor belts, nor all the heavy equipment or the three giant machines that were under repairs, but the hundreds of humans hard at work repairing the machines.
"These are all the people that disappeared from KO-35," Andros said. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than all of them had stopped what they were doing to eye the intruders. The next instant, they headed straight toward them, walking stiffly and looking like a bunch of robots.
"Uh, what are they doing?" Ashley asked.
"I'm not sure," Andros replied. "Hey everyone, we're friends!" He shouted to the crowd. He got no response so he tried again. "We're not going to hurt you; we're here to help you!" Again, no response, they just kept coming.
Tommy once again put a hand on Andros's shoulder. "I don't think talking to them is going to work. They've been brainwashed by Ivan's ooze."
"Then what are we going to do?" He asked.
"How did the captives get free the first time you battled him? Zhane asked before Tommy could reply.
"They just seemed to snap out of it when he got destroyed," Adam chimed in.
"But wait a minute," Kim spoke up. "He obviously wasn't destroyed then, so what happened?"
"Maybe he was too weak and hurt for the ooze to work anymore, that'd be my guess," Rocky said, shrugging.
"I don't think now is the time to worry about that!" Ashley cried. Look!" She pointed to the advancing crowd who was almost upon them now and had picked up pieces of metal, screwdrivers, wrenches, and anything else that could be used as weapons and were brandishing them at the rangers.
Zhane stepped forward and waved his arms wildly. "You guys! Listen! We're your friends! We're not going to hurt you!" He screamed.
"It's no use, Zhane," Andros told him. "We have to think of something else."
"But what? Another three seconds and they'll be upon us!" Zhane cried.
"But we can't hurt them. They're innocent people!" Rocky said loudly.
"I know, but how do we stop them?" Zack cried.
"Guys, look out!" Tommy yelled as the crowd reached them and raised their weapons.
"The intruders must die!" One man intoned in a voice without emotion, preparing to strike with a long strip of metal.
"Oh, no!" Ashley wailed, backing up a couple of steps and bumping into Kat.
"Defend yourselves everyone, but don't hurt them!" Andros yelled as he blocked a strike from the man who had spoken.
Zhane caught a flying wrench coming at his head. "There's too many of them!" he shouted. "I don't think we can hold them all off!"
But just as the words left his mouth, there was a brief flash of purple and the crowd suddenly all stopped as one.
"What the hell?" Zhane asked as people started to shake their heads and look around, dropping their weapons at the same time.
"What's going on?" A woman asked.
Where are we?" A man wanted to know.
"How'd we get here?" A second man asked.
"I'm not sure. The last thing I remember is looking at that purple slime. Everything else after that is a big blank," A third man replied.
"They've snapped out of it!" Andros exclaimed in surprise.
"But we didn't do anything," Tommy pointed out. "Ivan Ooze must have gotten destroyed."
"But how?" We're all here and Ivan isn't," Tanya asked.
"Then it must've been someone else," Kim stated.
"Who's Ivan Ooze?" the first man asked.
Andros and Tommy filled the former captives in on everything that had happened in the last few days. "And now we're just trying to figure out what happened to snap you guys out of your trance," Andros finished.
"Figure it out later!" TJ yelled as he rushed into the room followed by Billy, Trini, Carlos, and Cassie. "All the explosives are in place and set to go off in three minutes!"
"All right everyone! It's time to leave!" Andros yelled.
"But how? We don't have a ship, and even if we did, we all wouldn't fit on it!" A woman cried.
"And what about the machines?" Carlos wanted to know.
"When the asteroid explodes, it'll take the machines with it, and we'll leave on the Megaship!" Andros answered. He then spoke into his communicator. "DECA teleport all of us to the Megaship now," he commanded.
"Everyone can fit on board?" Jason wondered as they were all teleported back to the ship.
As soon as they arrived, they demorphed and Andros immediately instructed the other five members of his team to make the guest comfortable in the galley, Simudeck, observatory, and anywhere else they could. He then dashed for the bridge followed by the other rangers and Astronema, commanding DECA to get them out of the area and back to KO-35 immediately.
As they arrived on the bridge, the hyper burners came to life and the ship took off for KO-35. Andros sat down at his station and brought up the image of the asteroid on the main viewing screen.
They all watched in silence as the remaining thirty seconds ticked off the timer and the explosives detonated and the asteroid exploded in billions of tiny pieces; and Just like that Ivan's base was destroyed. The rangers all cheered and gave each other high fives and slapped each other on the back and shaking one another's hands.
"But what happened to Ivan? Is he really gone for good?" Carlos asked, and that was what everyone else wanted to know too.
A/N: I hope this chapter was good. Please review and tell me what you think! I'll take constructive criticism and even flames!