The Rangers and Viera all arrived back at Levi's apartment. It was an impressive place, certainly far larger than a single guy really needed. It wasn't quite up to the Marcus Tien level of excess, but being a huge, open-plan upper-floor apartment with modern furniture, large-screen TV, numerous video games consoles, multiple mini-fridges full of drinks and gym equipment on-hand, it was truly like a dream bachelor pad!
"Home sweet home!" Levi declared with a smile.
"Wow, I knew you had money but DAMN!" Calvin remarked. "Don't you think maybe you should save something for a rainy day?"
"I think you underestimate how big some of those residual checks are." Levi told them. "Don't worry about it."
"So, I guess I should get started on my work." Preston said as he looked around. "Hayley, where are you again?"
It had been discovered that Hayley and anything she was wearing when she was hit by Preston's errant spell were turned invisible, but that she could cover up with other items which were unaffected. However, given the fact that the incident at the tennis court proved that they couldn't account for accidents causing parts of her body becoming exposed, along with the fact that she couldn't exactly walk around in a welder's outfit for the rest of her life meant that they figured having her walk to Levi's place invisible was probably for the best so they didn't freak anyone out with anymore "headless girl" incidents. A towel rose up and then looped around what Preston presumed was Hayley's neck.
"I'm over here." She sighed.
"I think I might have figured it out before the match." Preston told her. "Want me to take another crack at it?"
"You mastered the book in a couple of hours?" Viera asked him.
"I read the whole chapter from start to finish!" Preston assured her.
"That's, uh…not what I asked." She said a little cautiously. However, Preston was already preparing for his spell.
"Cigam Odnu!" He called out, pointing the Dragon Wand at Hayley. The Rangers watched as a beam shot out, hitting Hayley. They all watched as for a moment, the air started to shimmer and they could swear they saw things starting to come into view.
"Am I the only one seeing a brain?" Levi asked. "That's…kind of disturbing!"
"Is that her liver?" Calvin asked.
"Her spleen actually." Sarah corrected him. "OK, Preston, you're doing it, keep going!"
Preston held on as long as he could, but he felt harsh backlash coming along his wand, forcing him to break off contact. Hayley shifted back out of view again and disappeared. Preston swore loudly as he threw himself down onto the couch, pulling out the spellbook.
"I don't understand this, I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" He protested.
"Well, maybe the problem is…"
"Maybe you're just tired." Levi suggested. "I know I'm a little wiped out after today."
"Yeah, a lot's been going on." Brody agreed. "Not to mention you skipped lunch so you've not eaten."
"Yeah, I'll bet that's it!" Calvin answered. "Maybe you keep reading and we sort out something to eat and you try again a little later?"
"That sounds like a plan to me." Sarah agreed. "Levi, where's the kitchen?"
"Just through that door there." He told her. "I'll come help you!"
"Guys, I've just had a thought." Hayley stated. "If I eat while I'm invisible, will people still be able to…you know…see the food?"
"I…guess we'll find out." Calvin answered as he took her through to the kitchen to help. Viera went over to Preston, who was reading through the spellbook once more.
"Preston, have you thought…"
"Viera, I really have to concentrate on this." He interrupted her. "Sorry to be rude, but…I just need to get on with this."
Viera just turned and left, making her way towards the kitchen. As she did so, she pulled out the note from Monty and looked at it. If Preston didn't want her help, maybe it was time to concentrate on something for herself.
Meanwhile, Trevor arrived at a bar just a short way from the precinct after dropping off Victor at home. He had been suspended until the school could hold a formal disciplinary hearing. He had turned in the drugs to the precinct to be tested, but until then there wasn't much he could do. He would help Victor where he could as a favour to the family, but until then, there wasn't much more he could do. Right now, he had something of his own to deal with.
The Code Red was a cop bar in every sense of the term. It was only just down the street from the precinct and was run by Red Denver, a former officer and something of a legend in the precinct. He had opened up the bar with his pension after his retirement as a way to keep close to the precinct in any way they would let him. At least four out of every five customers was either a cop or a former cop that went there to exchange stories and sit for some drinks and appetisers.
It wasn't a dive, but it was also not going out of its way to encourage an influx of casual customers. The bar served beers and shots almost exclusively and the food was strictly what could be offered from a fryer or a microwave. Nacho plates, wings, jalapeno poppers and onion rings washed down with bourbon or Budweiser were very much the order of the day.
"Yo, Marx you're late!" Red called out, seeing him arrive. "The club's downstairs waiting on you!"
"Yeah, I got held up on a personal matter." Marx told him, heading around the bar and through a door and down into the basement.
Red was also a member and firm supporter of the Calibre Club. He lent them the basement of his bar for meetings. Normally they only met for the induction of new members or for special occasions, so to be called for a formal meeting was a little unusual, though not unwelcome as Red always made sure they were well provided for.
Trevor went down and found that he wasn't exactly hugely missed. The guys from the club were all down there, enjoying the benefits of Red's policy that club members ate and drank for free at club meetings. There was a lot of laughter and an air of celebration as he came in, shaking hands and accepting greetings on his way to the stage. While being a member of the Calibre Club wasn't exactly something that on the surface was much to brag about, since the entry requirement was to have been shot in the line of duty, many of the members of the club who were still serving felt that it made them a kind of elite, like it showed their commitment to the job that they would keep going when they could accept a pension check and go home. It was this kind of hard-core support that Trevor was looking for. He headed up to the stage, cutting off one of the members who was on the karaoke machine.
"Alright Lewis, get out of here before I write you up for Murder One of Paul McCartney!" Trevor laughed as Lewis vacated the stage for him. "Thank you for keeping the party going without me guys, I'm really sorry I wasn't here on time."
"You weren't missed!" Someone called out, raising a laugh from the group. Trevor just smiled at the joke.
"Alright, I guess I deserved that." He told them. "I called the club here today because of a recent incident in Manalua."
"Yeah, we all heard about the Skullovitch kid." Another member called out. "We've already voted, he's in!"
"Yeah, don't we have to wait for him to get out of the hospital for the induction though?" Another asked him. Trevor took out a flash drive, putting it into the machine to put images up on the screen.
"Spike will be one of us soon enough, but while that isn't in dispute, what I want to talk about today is making sure that what happened to him doesn't happen to anyone else." Trevor told them. "I'm here to tell you what the official reports won't. They official report says that he was trying to talk down Goodwill and the gun went off by mistake."
He pulled up an image of the Red Ranger.
"What they don't tell you is that this guy was there!" He told them.
"The…Red Ranger?" One of them asked.
"Wait, is that even our Red Ranger?" Another chimed in. "He looks different…"
"So, it was laundry day! What difference does it make?" Trevor asked. "You see the Spandex, you see the helmet! He stuck his nose in where it wasn't wanted and Spike ended up eating a bullet!"
"You're saying…"
"I'm saying if he didn't run in swinging his sword when Spike had already got him to agree to hand over the gun none of this would have happened!" Trevor told them. "We've all seen what happened since the Rangers showed up! Reports being shredded, incidents swept under the rug, people losing their homes, their businesses to their fire-fights. Now…now one of our own almost bit the big one because of them!"
"Marx, what are you saying?" Iris asked, approaching the stage. Trevor looked to her.
"I'm saying it's about time we do what we always should." He responded. "I'm saying it's about time we held them to account."
He pulled out pictures of each of the Ninja Steel Rangers, pinning them to the wall.
"I'm saying when exactly have the police department allowed anyone with a weapon to run around taking the law into their own hands?" He asked. "I say, now that we're no longer safe, we start taking them down!"
There was a long moment of silence, before the room erupted in laughter. Most of the cops in the room were struggling to stay in their chairs.
"Marx, they're the ones FIGHTING those monsters!" One of them yelled.
"Yeah, and why the hell did those monsters come here in the first place?" Trevor asked. "They keep saying they're after something called Power Stars and Ninja Steel, right? Well, when was the last time one of those Rangers offered you any? Do any of you even know what they are? Just because the Rangers don't want to give up their power, they fight their own little power struggle right here on our front lawn and we get to pick up the pieces! Well I'm sick of it!"
"Marx…is that why you wanted all that hardware I sold you?" Iris asked him. He just looked to her.
"I shot one of them at close range with my nine and it didn't even phase him." Marx confirmed. She just looked wide-eyed at him in shock.
"Holy shit!" She gasped, looking to the others. "He's serious…he really wants to go after the Rangers!"
"Even if you could, what the hell do you think is going to happen?" One of them asked. "You know there's a hands-off policy on the Rangers, right?"
"Yes, we've been told not to get in their way while they're helping others, that much is true." Trevor told them. "But you know what they CAN'T do? Stop us doing our jobs! I don't know about you but when I signed up I took an oath! Serve the public trust! Protect the innocent! UPHOLD THE LAW!"
"Marx, this is crazy, I really hope it's just the whisky talking." Someone said to him. "What are you planning on telling…?"
"I don't know about you, but I don't see licence plates on those Robot things of theirs." He commented. "I also seriously doubt any of them have insurance. Hell, how do we know any of them even have licences for those weapons they run around with?"
"You seriously want us to Al Capone the Rangers?" Someone asked. Al Capone wasn't necessarily the best example since it was well known he was a murderous criminal, but it was used for a particular strategy sometimes used against troublesome criminals. During the thirties, Al Capone was virtually untouchable by virtue of witnesses either being bought off or too terrified to stand against him, which is where the Federal Government came up with a new strategy. Ultimately, after seizing his financial records, they imprisoned him for income tax evasion. It wasn't the crime they WANTED to get him on, but ultimately it was a much easier crime to prove. It was now not unknown for police to look for slam-dunk cases on lesser crimes just to get difficult to catch crooks off the streets until they could find evidence for much more serious crimes. After all, murder could be difficult to prove without physical evidence, but driving without a licence, all they needed was a picture of someone behind the wheel and no DMV record of a drivers' licence in their name!
"I'm deadly serious!" Trevor told them, picking up a steak knife from one of the tables and walking over to the pictures, driving it right into one of the pictures. "If they want to help, they can sign up like everyone else? Who's with me?"
He turned around to see the crowd muttering among themselves. The first finished his drink, before quietly heading for the door. All the free beer and wings in the world wasn't worth this level of trouble! More and more followed suit, until Iris went up to him.
"Marx, please, think about this." She told him. "This is insane. I'd never have sold you all that stuff if I'd known…"
"If you don't want to get involved, then walk away." Trevor told her. Iris just shook her head and left. It was only then that Trevor noticed that there were still about a dozen officers left. "So, what? Are you all going to tell me how crazy this is?"
"Actually, we were thinking…maybe you have a point." One of them answered. "We were wondering what you wanted us to do."
Trevor paced for a moment, considering his options. He'd gotten a lot less support than he was hoping for, but to know there were others that were just as fed up as he was, he reminded himself of his days in the military. It was rare that they would fight in ideal conditions with all the resources they'd like. Right now, he had to make do with what he had.
"First thing's first, if we do this, it's clear we're on our own." He told them as he walked up to the board, pulling the steak knife out of the picture of the White Ranger, where he had driven it right through her helmet. "If you're not in this all the way, then leave now!"
None of them left. Trevor went to a table, picking up a bottle of Bud.
"Then I guess it's time for us to get started." He replied. "What do each of you have in the way of firepower?"
The following morning, Cosmo was ready to shoot his promo for Abrakadanger. He wanted to really make sure he wound up support and publicity for his matchup with the Rangers. While Abrakadanger had his own massive fan base from his independent work, and he didn't really "need" the publicity, it certainly wouldn't hurt the product. For one thing, there was always rumours of massive stars from Galaxy Warriors quitting and going independent and of independent stars signing contracts with the "big leagues" of Galaxy Warriors, but fans heard them so often that they quickly grew sceptical and adopted a policy of only believing it when they saw it. There were huge numbers of independent stars that had spent years proudly proclaiming they'd never work for Galaxy Warriors until the right check came along and they did just that, likewise a lot of the competitors on Galaxy Warriors quite often used the threat of taking their popularity to independent promotions as a negotiating tactic when their contracts came up. All in, Cosmo wanted to make sure that EVERYONE knew that this week, they'd be seeing Abrakadanger, the biggest star outside of Galaxy Warriors on his show!
"Ladies and Gentlemen, you've heard the rumours! You've read the dirtsheets, you've seen the anonymous internet sources, well now you get to hear it right from the mouth of your favourite host…"
"COSMO!" They all cried out, eagerly awaiting confirmation of the rumours. He could already see many of the audience holding signs and wearing Abrakadanger's shirts. Since none of them had been produced by him, he wasn't getting a dime from that, but that would soon change if all went according to plan. The only one that wasn't eager to see this was Galvanax, who was uncharacteristically sitting just off the stage, watching.
"I'm here to tell all of you, after working diligently and listening to my fans, that he's here! RIGHT HERE TONIGHT!" Cosmo yelled. Although he was filming this promo in the morning, it wouldn't air until the evening broadcast, giving him time to sweeten up the reception and maximise the impact. "Here he is, that Mighty Master of Mysticism…ABRAKADANGER!"
Abrakadanger stepped out of a huge cloud of smoke that erupted from the stage, making his entrance to thunderous chants of his name. There was, however, a couple of troublemakers in the front row who did not seem happy at all!
"YOU SOLD OUT!" They roared in their anger, starting up a chant. There was a culture among some of the loyal die-hard fans of independent promotions that the bigger promotions were too corporate and mainstream. They made their product too sterile and generic for their tastes to appeal to a wider audience. They often felt that performers who left their favourite promotions, especially for the bigger ones in search of bigger pay-offs were selling out and betraying the fans that 'made' them. It didn't matter to them that the warriors were themselves professionals who simply went for the best pay and conditions for their skills.
Security was about to move in when Abrakadanger stopped them with a gesture. He looked to the audience members who had the audacity to jeer him.
"Prepare to marvel at my magical mastery!" He declared as he swung his wand, casting a spell over the half-dozen or so troublemakers in the front row that were accosting him. They all turned into large, helium-filled balloons and started to float away. He walked over and started to pop the balloons with a spike on the end of his wand, much to the delight of the crowd. He spun around back into the middle of the stage and took a bow.
"And just as I dealt with THAT little annoyance, for my grandest trick, I will make Galvanax's Championship DISAPPEAR!" He proclaimed, getting huge roars from the crowd. Normally Cosmo would be angry at a talent going into business for himself like that, but the fact was, if Abrakadanger could pull off his boast and defeat the Rangers, and he really did make Galvanax as nervous as he seemed to, Cosmo was more than happy to just wait on the money rolling in!
"Well, your skills are impressive, but your opponents are not without some magic of their own!" Cosmo told him, turning Abrakadanger towards a screen, showing footage of the Blue Ranger and some of the impressive spells he had pulled off. He held the mic up for him. "So, tell us, how do you plan to combat that?"
"Ha, you call that magic? I've wiped away better magic than that with toilet paper!" Abrakadanger boasted. "I am more powerful than anything the Blue Ranger can throw at me! And just to prove it, I will give you a preview today!"
"Well, you heard it here first folks, it looks like Abrakadanger is off to whet our appetites!" Cosmo said as Abrakadanger disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Stay tuned for this clash of mystical titans!"