Sarah backed away under Misawa's relentless attack, her gauntlets strong enough to parry every blow from his sword. She was not a fighter by nature, though she had been subjected to extensive physical training as part of her upbringing. Her Ranger Rigs also downloaded data and knowledge from all of her Ranger's battles into her mainframe, which she had transferred to the Seraphim rig. All the battle scenarios and manoeuvres were being uploaded directly into her brain so quickly, her body reacted with the speed and precision of years of training she didn't have. He sent her staggering with a swipe of his sword which scored a glancing hit across her breast plate.
"You can't possibly think you can walk out of here with your life, can you Sarah?" He taunted her, twirling the sword effortlessly. His strength and speed were far beyond natural. While his youthful appearance and physical health appeared to be the result of the genetic enhancements he had told her about, he clearly had also upgraded himself with cybernetic technology. "Your whole life has been one sick joke. You really think your parents gave a damn about you?"
"I know they sold me." She replied, sinking to one knee, breathing hard as she glared at him. "I just need to know why."
"I really couldn't tell you." He responded with a shrug. "Your father and mother were loyal employees for..."
"My mom worked for the Misawa Corporation?" Sarah interrupted him. Misawa gently wagged a finger at her.
"Now, that's a leading question isn't it? Still, if I'm about to eliminate the last troublesome spawn of the Galileo Project, then I suppose it doesn't matter." He told her. "Your mother didn't work for the Misawa Corporation. She worked for the Macha Group's office in Geneva. She was one of our leading scientific researchers."
"You're about to kill me anyway." Sarah reminded him, holding an arm across her chest as her wings slumped around her. She stared up at him. "Please, tell me what I am. Tell me what the Galileo Project is."
"As you know, most traits such as immunity to illness, susceptibility to others, intelligence, hair colour etc. are all held within the genetic code. For years many have tried to breed the perfect child by matching two parents of exceptional intelligence, physical fitness or some other desirable trait." He began his explanation as he strode over towards her. Her eyes never left hers, despite his sword twitching constantly, like a serpent waiting to strike. "However, as you also know..."
"Such traits tend to regress towards the mean score." Sarah concluded. "Just having two parents with a 180 IQ doesn't guarantee the child won't have a score of only 110."
"We intended to correct that." He told her. "Every employee of the Misawa Corporation and the Macha Group was tested for intelligence, with only myself, the two senior partners and the CEO being given the scores. From that, we made matches with people both within and out with the company. We made the matches, and paid the couples handsomely for their participation. Once the foetus was conceived, the mothers were subjected to regular scans and treatments to ensure desirable results."
"You genetically engineered the kids." Sarah gasped. "I'm an experiment?"
"A successful one depending on who you ask." He said with a laugh, placing the tip of the sword under her chin. "We addressed any natural regression and forced development. As a result, we ended up with children of significant intellectual gifts."
"So I was sold...before I was even born?" Sarah asked him as tears rolled down her face.
"You were never born." He corrected her. "You were created. You were our property before your mother gave birth. She was the one who came up with the concept. She created the process. She volunteered to be a test subject. It was just coincidence that the best match happened to be the hitman she was already..."
"So I'm nothing, my parents never wanted me in the first place." She sniffed, wiping her nose with her wrist.
"You'd have to ask your mother that." He replied, raising his sword, preparing to strike her head from her shoulders. "Of course something tells me you're not likely to make it to Geneva."
As it came down, Sarah's hand reached up, catching it. Misawa stared at her in disbelief.
"That's what I wanted to hear." She snarled as her right wing started to glow red. She swung it in a powerful arc, slicing his arm from his body. Misawa screamed as he staggered away, clutching the stump. Sarah threw the arm, still holding the sword over the edge of the building.
"I cauterised the wound, you are in no danger of bleeding to death." She informed him. She removed her hand from her chest, showing that his swipe, despite the power, had not penetrated her armour. Misawa rushed towards her, launching into a frenzied attack with his feet and his one remaining arm. Eventually, Sarah grabbed him by the throat with both hands and flew upwards, slamming him into the ceiling, before bringing him crashing back to the floor. She mounted him, bringing her left knee onto his chest, and clamping his right arm to the floor with her wings.
"My mother's still alive isn't she?" Sarah roared angrily as she clamped a hand around his throat.
"If I tell you anything the partners..."
"Then your partners are also alive." Sarah interrupted him, realising what he had said.
"If I say anything they'll kill me!" He screamed. "You'll never make me talk; I have no fear of death."
"Who said I intend to kill you?" Sarah asked him as her left wing started to glow red. She brought it up, slicing off another piece of his missing arm, before bringing it back to its original position, clamping his arm down. "I could keep you alive for days like this. I could take you piece by piece."
"Their names are Dupree and Ulyanov." He told her quickly. "Ulyanov operated from somewhere in the old Communist Bloc, I don't know exactly where he's from. The boss made sure we never knew too much about each other. Dupree was French-Swiss. We were close once, he told me he worked out of an institute that was deep below the ground in Switzerland..."
"What about your boss?" Sarah asked him.
"I don't know who he is!" He shrieked in his panic. "He always contacted us through video conferencing, and always hid his identity; I don't know who he is!"
"I believe you." Sarah told him. "Do you know where I can find either of them?"
"Dupree had a lab several miles underground. It was somewhere underneath Geneva." He told her. "That's all I know, I swear!"
Sarah produced a small device, around the size of a tennis ball, and pressed a button.
"This will release an electromagnetic pulse. It will disable all your security systems, and I'm guessing probably all of your GEARS too." She informed him, tossing it aside. "I've recorded this whole conflict. I'm downloading it to SPD's mainframe; you can expect operatives to arrive within the hour."
She got up, making her way towards the edge of the roof, standing on the precipice. Misawa got back to his feet.
"I'll be killed, there's nowhere I can be safe, not even SPD can protect me!" He implored her. "Please, grant me a merciful..."
"I'll not make things so easy." Sarah replied coldly, her rage still consuming her as she called her helmet. "Your office is full of Samurai artefacts. Why not take their example. If you want to die, have the guts to do it yourself."
With that, she took off, heading off on her journey once more. Seeing his office in ruins, and knowing that it would not be long until SPD arrived to take control, Misawa made his way over to a fallen suit of armour, removing a dagger from its sheath. Taking a moment to contemplate his actions, he plunged it into his stomach.
Over in Angel Grove, Zhane escorted a restrained TJ through the ruins as Dillon continued on his journey. TJ laughed as Dillon collapsed down a slope of fallen rubble.
"Your brilliant plan to take this city from us is to follow this guy?" He asked Zhane. "God, you're even more deluded than when you were with..."
Zhane silenced him with a swift punch to the jaw. Dillon go to his feet, checking his nose again, realising the bleeding had not subsided.
"How are you feeling?" Zhane asked him.
"I feel like all four of the RPM megazords are using my head as a bongo." He replied honestly. "I hope we aren't too far out now."
"I hope so too." Zhane told him, looking around. "I recognise this place. It was..."
"Of course you remember this place; I brought you here all the time when we were trying to acclimatise you to Earth." The Pink Space Ranger stated as she walked into view. "I guess it's no surprise they got you TJ."
"Bite me Cassie!" He yelled in response. Zhane quickly morphed and knocked TJ out with a knee to the face.
"We don't have to do this Cassie." He told her. "We're trying to help you."
"In case you haven't noticed, I don't need help." Cassie told him.
"Dillon, keep going, I'll catch up." Zhane ordered him. "I'll take care of her."
In another part of Angel Grove, Justin was leading Flynn, Scott and Ziggy through the ruins. They had gotten through their trial bout with Carlos, bruised but intact. Justin pulled Ziggy into a hiding place by a short wall.
"That's where the most dangerous people in Angel Grove reside." He told them.
"It looks like a mall." Dillon commented. Justin rolled his eyes.
"It was a mall, but they use that as their kingdom." He informed them. "Andros and Ashley are seriously not to be underestimated."
"Why are we going after them?" Scott asked him. "Why not look for the conduit?"
"If we can take them out, we only have to worry about TJ and Cassie." He explained. "Don't you think it'll be easier to find it if we have all the Rangers under wraps?"
"So how dangerous are they?" Scott asked him.
"Why don't we find out?" He heard a male voice ask him. He looked up to see a tall man, with a toned, healthy physique standing on a nearby building. He was wearing only a tight pair of black leather trousers, and a long, flowing red cloak. He wore a crown, made of a mass of gold, roughly moulded into shape, with a large, glowing jewel in it, the size of a ping pong ball. A blonde woman stepped into view a little way behind him, draping an arm over his shoulder.
"So, who do we have challenging us for our territory today?" Ashley asked him, casting an eye over them. "Why, is that Justin, our little blue mascot?"
"I'm nobody's mascot Ashley!" Justin snapped in response. "I was part of the team!"
"You were the part of the team they left behind on Earth." Andros reminded him, cupping Ashley's cheek with his hand, turning her face towards him, kissing her passionately. "No wonder your friends traded up when they had the chance."
"How about we just get this over with?" Scott asked him. "Come on down! We're waiting right here!"
"Lets' Rocket!" They chorused together, activating their morphers.
In Tokyo, a VTOL craft made its way to the Misawa Corporation building, landing on the balcony. As the door opened, a man stepped out.
He was about six feet tall, with short, dark, spiky hair, and a set of grey coveralls, trimmed in green. The letters SPD were printed on the breast. He looked around, letting out a long, low whistle as he saw the scene of devastation in the office. His partner, a blonde woman, dressed similarly, with her uniform trimmed in yellow came in behind him.
"What the hell happened in here?" She gasped. "I thought we were getting a clean pick up!"
"I guess we are Dippy." The SPD Green Ranger commented. "It looks like we'll have no resistance to bringing in our team."
"So where's Misawa?" Dippy asked him. "Scott..."
"I think that's him over there." He replied, gesturing to a one-armed corpse lying in a pool of his own blood. He went over; pulling out a small, hand-held device and pressed the one hand it had left into it. The fingerprints verified the identity. "It's him alright."
Dippy got onto her communicator, linking to Corinth.
"This is Serendipity, SPD Earth Yellow Ranger." She began. "We have a situation here."
Back in Angel Grove, Andros was slammed through a wall, back into the mall, using his sabre to fend off the attacks from both Flynn and Ziggy's Nitro Swords.
"You young ones don't know the first thing about being Rangers!" He snapped, taking Ziggy down violently. "You have nothing on us!"
"We didn't need to second-rate technology to get us through!" Flynn roared, rushing forward, slamming him into a wall. As he did so, they heard a crash as the skylight caved in. Dillon tumbled towards them, clutching his head, screaming in agony.
"Dillon, we could really use a hand here!" Flynn told him.
"You're relying on this guy to save you?" Andros taunted him, slashing him across the chest, sending him to the floor in a shower of sparks. "You really are more desperate than I ever would have imagined."
Dillon's vision was worse than ever as he slowly started to recover. Every movement hurt as he tried to figure out where he was. Eventually he noticed the Red and Yellow Space Rangers battling his friends. What really caught his attention though was the Red Ranger. He was wearing a long, flowing red cloak, but more than that, he was wearing a crown, with a distinctive jewel on it.
Dillon got to his feet, struggling against every instinct in his body to simply give up and accept his fate. He strode towards Andros, reaching out for him.
"What do you want little man?" Andros sneered. "Do you want to fall by my sword?"
"Hold him guys!" Dillon snarled as he used the last of his strength to launch himself forwards. Flynn and Ziggy held his arms fast, preventing him from intervening, but just stared in disbelief as all Dillon did was swipe the crown off his head.
"Dillon, what...?"
Just then, he grabbed the crown, feeling like every inch of his brain was on fire as he did so, and slammed it with all his strength into the floor. The gem shattered, and sparks flew from it. Andros and Ashley stopped fighting immediately.
"What...what happened?" Andros asked as he looked around.
"Justin?" Ashley asked her fellow team mate. "When did you get tattoos?"
"Mission accomplished." Scott and Justin roared, high-fiving each other. "How's Dillon?"
"I've been better." He muttered as Flynn and Ziggy helped him back to his feet. "Can we go to the Command Centre and get this shit out of my head now?"
I think you've earned it." Scott replied. "Come on guys, lets' get you all home."