Jake found himself flailing in panic as Psycho Black grabbed him and hoisted him directly over his head, beginning to press him in an impressive display of raw power.
"Afraid of heights Black Ranger?" He taunted him. Jake just continued to thrash around.
"Uh...not so much heights." Jake replied. "It's more the sudden stop when you...WHOOOOAAAAA!"
As Psycho Black launched him through the air, he was send flying at speed into a tree, hitting it with a sickening crunch. His suit and his armour protected him, but even though it didn't hit like running into a tree at sixty miles an hour...it sure as hell didn't feel like a marshmallow. He started trying to shake the cobwebs free.
"Fall." He spluttered out the final word of what he was saying. He looked up in time to see Psycho Black launching himself into the air, his spear in his hand. Seeing it in his right hand, he instinctively moved to his own left, expecting Psycho Black to cross over. He saw it all the time on the soccer pitch. Just like being right or left handed, most players were right or left footed, and figuring out which was a good way of figuring out where the ball would go. A right footed player, by virtue of the way his body would naturally swing when he took a shot, tended to drive the ball to the left, while left-footed players did the opposite. It was natural for people to cross their own body. As he did this though, Psycho Black swiped to his own right, smashing it into him, sending him spiralling.
"Not a bad idea Holling." He stated. "It's just a shame I know a lot more than just your pathetic little soccer tricks."
With that, he sent Jake flying high into the air with a penalty-style kick to the ribs, before scything him down again with his spear. He turned to Psycho Blue. "How are you doing over there Blue?"
"Not too shabby if I do say so myself!" He yelled, hammering into a prone Noah with his Psycho Axe. He looked into the heavens, bellowing out a huge laugh. "The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit: I cannot live to hear the news from England; But I do prophesy the election lights On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice; So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, Which have solicited. The rest is silence."
"I don't know what's worse." Noah grumbled, summoning up his Shark Bowgun behind his back. He gripped it tightly. "Getting beaten by that axe, or having to listen to your soliloquies."
"Then let us end this." He replied. Noah just nodded.
"Lay on MacDuff." Noah beckoned him. Psycho Blue just let out a huge roar.
"Right playwright, wrong play!" He yelled angrily. He brought down his axe one more time, but Noah blocked it with his Ultra Sword. He snatched around his Bowgun from behind his back. Psycho Blue just gulped.
"But...you won't." He stammered. "If you fire it at this range..."
"By the way, Hamlet died too!" Noah stated as he pulled the trigger. Psycho Blue was right about one thing, at point-blank range, the blast caught both of them. Although most of it was focused in Psycho Blue's direction, Noah knew when he came up with the idea that he would take damage too. As he tumbled away, he couldn't stop his ears from ringing, and his vision was blurry.
"What?" Psycho Pink yelled as she strangled Emma with the body of her Psycho Bow, seeing Psycho Blue lying on the ground unmoving. "But...but how?"
"Noah!" Gia called out, only to take a hit in the back from Psycho Yellow's Psycho Sling. Psycho Yellow, Pink and Black rushed over to Psycho Blue's side, finding him limp, and barely responsive.
"Red!" Psycho Black called out as he tried to revive the barely-conscious Psycho Blue. "Blue's down!"
Psycho Red meanwhile was locked in battle with both Troy and Jordan. It was a tough battle, but one he relished. Both of his opponents were good, that much he already knew, but right now he was managing to keep pace.
Troy, he knew all too well. Xavier had been in the same Karate class when they trained together. Since then, just like himself, it looked like Troy had taken on other styles and arts, but there was something consistent about him. He always put most of his emphasis on technique. Every move was clinically precise, clearly drilled thousands, possibly millions of times until it was exactly right, exactly the way it should be. What it did mean though was his moves, even without reading his minds, were occasionally predictable. Because Troy had seen them millions of times, so had Xavier...in fact Xavier had probably seen them more times than Troy had. One of the first things Xavier had learned on set was when he had to do a fight scene with a former pro wrestler from Miami. Not everyone used correct technique. Sometimes, the hardest moves to predict were the ones that went against what he had been trained. He'd earned a few lumps with that realization, learning to adapt to the situation.
As he kicked Troy away, he wasn't able to press the advantage. Jordan was right on top of him quickly, just like Troy was when Jordan got into trouble. Xavier found Jordan very different from Troy. Although he recognized a lot of his moves, and could identify the grounding of his style, it was very different. The rough edges were evident, his technique not as polished, and his mentality more than a little different. He was willing to walk through a punch or a kick to set up one of his own moves and press an advantage. His style was obviously taught differently, like it was taught more for destruction than precision. He staggered backwards as Jordan slammed a fist into his face. He ducked down, at which Troy soared over him, raking across Xavier's chest with his Ultra Sword, putting all the power behind it he could.
"You...you need your friends to do your fighting for you?" Psycho Red spat in disgust. "Are you afraid to take me yourself?"
"I'm not afraid." Troy told him. "But making sure you can't hurt anyone else is more important than my pride."
"Red, let's go!" Psycho Black reiterated. Psycho red looked to his team, and then back to Troy. He summoned up a flame around his sword blade. Jordan and Troy saw the flame blast coming and threw themselves out the way. It hit some nearby trees, that some kids were cowering under. Burning shrubbery started to fall around them, causing them to scream as it trapped them underneath.
"Bug out!" Xavier instructed his team, horrified by what he was seeing. The kids...they weren't his target. They were just...there. Sure, they had caused destruction before to draw the Rangers out, but they didn't have any plans to hurt anyone else. The power within them only drove them to destroy the Rangers. Seeing the opportunity to run before any more people could get hurt, he decided now was the time to withdraw. "We can come back for another round. We'll catch you around Rangers!"
With that, they all disappeared, all of them that was, except for Psycho Black. He stood and watched as the Rangers, true to form, ran to help the kids and make sure they could escape. Seeing a young girl, maybe only six years old cowering nearby, he saw some burning branches falling towards her. He ran over, snatching her up in his arms, turning his back into it as the flames washed over him. He looked up in time to see the Rangers turning, hearing the tree falling. They saw him with the girl in his arms.
Throwing off the burning tree, he set her down on the ground once he satisfied himself she was safe, before teleporting away.
"What...what just happened?" Jake asked as he and Gia smothered many of the flames with Earth, while Jordan froze others. "Did...did he just save that kid?"
"Noah, are you alright?" Emma asked as she helped Noah to his feet.
"I'll tell you...as soon as there stops being three of you." He responded weakly as he steadied himself against a tree.
"We need to get back to the Command Centre." Troy told them. "Something different happened this time, something that made them withdraw. We need to figure out what."
With that, after satisfying themselves that the Cerberus team were recovering enough to take care of the people still on the set, they teleported back to the Command Centre.
"Alright, set up a perimeter." Wayne instructed his team. "Call in medical support, I want everyone taken to hospital for a checkup, and I do mean everyone. Kyle?"
"Yeah boss?" He asked.
"You take the lead here." He told him. "I need to call Eric, let him know what happened here."
As the team got to work, Wayne went into his command trailer, and sat down on a chair. He ran a hand through his hair and started to take some deep breaths. He had to phone Eric to let him know what was going on, it was better he hear it from him than a tabloid, but what exactly could he tell him? Did he dare to tell him what he had seen? He doubted his sanity for even thinking it.
His family life was pretty much falling apart at the seams. His son, wasn't just back in Juvenile detention on terrorism charges, but as of a couple of weeks ago, was now in a psychiatric unit, having said barely a word since some stranger had dumped him back in Juvenile Hall. The details hadn't been released to the press, but Wayne already knew the story, that the stranger had been wearing armour that shrugged off the gunshots like they were nothing, and he teleported out just as the Rangers did. Had one of them done this to him?
Now, his situation was complicated further. He wanted to deny it, to pretend he didn't see it, but moments before the battle, he could swear he saw Emma and Gia, his best friends' daughters, confronting them, then a flash of light...and then the Rangers in their place. Was it possible that his best friends' kids had done this to his family? How could he live, knowing that the very reason his family was falling apart around him was because of the girls he'd known almost as long as his own? Reluctantly, he scrolled through his contacts, finding Eric's number.
Back at the Command Centre, the Rangers were gathered around the medical bench yet again. This time, it was Noah needing treatment. Tensou was checking over him.
"Well, it's not a concussion." Tensou assured him. "It looks like you just got knocked goofy as you humans say."
"With that hair, I'm not surprised." Jordan chuckled, ruffling his afro playfully. "It probably acted like a big old airbag inside his helmet."
"Dude, seriously? You're ragging on my hair?" Noah asked him. Jake just shook his head.
"What the hell were you thinking anyway?" He asked. "You know how powerful that Shark Bowgun is, why did you...?"
"Because it was the last thing I'd ever think to do." Noah answered honestly. They all just looked at him curiously.
"Uh...you're going to have to run that one past me again." Troy stated.
"The Psycho Rangers...they all read our minds, took our moves right?" Noah asked them. "So I..."
"You used a different playbook!" Gia interrupted. "Like when Kasparov beat Deep Blue. He used rash, unexpected moves to throw it off."
"I just realised that the only way I'd be able to catch him off guard would be to do something I'd never do." Noah replied, groaning as he got off the bench. "I'm kind of wishing I'd thought it through more."
"Wait...that's pretty good." Jordan told him. "You know...apart from the whole blowing yourself to Kingdom Come part of the plan. Seriously, did you want to be the second Ranger these guys killed?"
"I wasn't thinking that far ahead." Noah admitted sheepishly. Jake slammed a fist into a table.
"Man, I am so OVER being five steps behind these guys!" He yelled. "They know everything about us, but in return we know almost nothing about them?"
"We know that they're powerful." Gia grumbled. "But...that's about it."
"They fight differently than last time." Jordan told them. "I saw it in the Library. Last time they fought differently. They were different."
"Different how?" Jake asked him.
"I don't know, it was like...like they were different people." He told them. "It's like...Pink was more malicious, and Blue...he was just completely batshit..."
"Maybe they are different." Noah suggested. "What, someone kept the suits in mothballs for fifteen years; you don't think they might have given them to someone else?"
"They sure didn't fight like old guys." Gia agreed.
"You said that Blue was batshit, like properly psychotic last time right?" Noah asked Jordan. "And this time he's quoting Hamlet?"
"Yeah, because nobody crazy ever quotes the classics." Jake chuckled. "Hannibal Lectre anyone? And what was with that thing he said to you last time about last words? About him going or the curtains? What was that...?"
"Wait...either those curtains go or I do?" Jordan asked. "Those were supposedly the last words of Oscar Wilde."
Everyone in the room just stared at him.
"YOU can quote Oscar Wilde?" Gia asked him, sniggering a little.
"I'm not a complete meat head you know!" Jordan protested. "Dad made me read a lot of the classics. I guess he wanted me to be all classy and look all refined for all his friends."
"OK, so he has a thing for Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde...classic British playwrights." Noah stated. He then thought of something. "Wait, I just...I need to check something out."
As he pulled up footage on the viewing screen, he played footage of the Psycho Rangers' arrival. He ran the images, checking on the destruction they were causing, and pulled in on one in particular.
"Check this out." Noah told them. He showed them footage, which showed Psycho Black tearing off a car door, before yanking a kid out of a car, and letting her run away. Jake just furrowed his brows.
"He saved that kid...just like he saved the kid at the park." He replied. "So...he's a nice psycho?"
"Maybe that's part of his own personality coming through." Gia suggested. "Like Psycho Blue's taste in literature."
"And Psycho Red said he knew me...but he didn't read my mind." Troy concluded.
"Yeah, but the last thing we need is him gaining any more advantages." Jordan replied. "Even without your moves, he was giving both of us a run for our money."
"He was good." Troy replied. "He was good...even without my moves, maybe even better than me."
"Wait, I may have been hit in the head a little too hard...but I'm having a crazy thought. I think I know who these guys are." Noah told them. "The Blue guy has a thing for classical British playwrights. The Black guy goes all out to help kids..."
"The Red guy has crazy mad Martial Arts skills..." Jordan carried on, seeing where Noah was going. "Noah..."
"Can either of you let us in on your thoughts?" Emma asked them.
"Xavier has insane skills. Oliver just lives for kids, and David..."
"You seriously think Vrak recruited a bunch of actors to take us on?" Gia asked.
"Having our big screen counterparts kicking our butts?" Emma said with a shrug. "It does sound like his sense of humour."
"It also presents us with another problem." Troy told them. "If this is true, how are we meant to stop them without destroying them?"
Meanwhile, on the Warstar Ship, David was sitting on a bench, rubbing the back of his head as Vrak came in. The others were gathered around him. David had a bottle of vodka in his hand, and took a long swig.
"Medicinal." He insisted to Vrak as he saw the look of disgust in his face.
"I thought you were the great and powerful Psycho Rangers!" He yelled at them.
"We have their powers, but we're not them." Oliver told him. "And in case you hadn't noticed, it's not like the Megaforce Rangers are a pushover!"
"Also, in case you hadn't noticed, there aren't just five of them." Felicity complained. "That Robo Knight and the Red Ranger..."
"I can handle them." Xavier assured her.
"I gave you the powers of the Psycho Rangers, and you come back empty handed." Vrak scoffed. "I even give you the power to take their moves, so that nothing they can do can take you by surprise, and still all I hear are excuses!"
"Even with their moves, they can surprise us." David told him, taking another long swig. "Trust me, that science nerd knew exactly what would happen when he fired that gun, and he did it anyway."
"Well, I'm too close to the completion of my new base of operations to have you all screw it up now!" He told them. He pressed a button on a device, forcing all of them to their knees as pain flared up in their heads. "I'm giving you a little power boost. Obviously I've left too much of you and not enough of the Psychos in your psychological makeup. This time, you go back, and you fight to the finish."
"And what about Robo Knight?" Felicity asked. "What will we do about him?"
"Leave him to me." They heard a tinny, feminine voice saying. They all strained to see the other figure in the shadows.
"Who...who's that?" Oliver asked.
"It looks like I'll have to debut my latest ally a little early." He told them. "Ever heard of the term fight fire with fire? Well...let's just say that to fight a robot...you send one of your own."