Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was in his office, trying to make head nor tail of how he was going to make a show out of the recent events.
Things were looking pretty straightforward up until now. Forcefear was an incredibly tough monster, one that could really take a hit. He was somewhat of an eternal midcarder, never really able to distinguish himself with a significant victory. The only reason he was even on the radar was because he had a good reputation and use as a damage sponge.
He would often be thrown into bouts with powerful monsters that had a bad habit of providing only short bouts which his fans would find entertaining for a while, but then would start to resent when they realised they were paying a subscription fee for only minutes, sometimes only seconds of entertainment. He did know that there was a good chance one of the reasons for Forcefear's lacklustre win/loss record was the fact he was thrown into bouts with vastly more powerful monsters just because he would stay on his feet for more than one punch, but as a promoter it really wasn't his concern if the fights were fair, only that they drew money.
Another use he had for him was exactly what he had intended for the Rangers...using him as a speed bump! Challengers to champions needed to keep up momentum, and maintain their strength for the title bouts, but when a champion was a draw, it was a good idea to keep him champion until his popularity started to wane. More than once he had used Forcefear as a wavebreaker, sticking him in front of a challenger right before they faced the Champion as a way to sap their strength. He didn't really care if the Rangers beat Forcefear or not, the best case scenario was they would roll over him like they had so many others only to be so exhausted that Galvanax would destroy them; get his Power Stars, all the while Cosmo would be raking in the ratings.
The intervention of this new player had certainly disrupted what seemed like a very straightforward plan, but it wasn't like he hadn't had to think on his feet before. He had the footage running on a loop on one monitor, and numerous stills of the new monster up all around his office, all while other monitors brought him any and all rumours, no matter how spurious or suspect, all in the hopes of trying to track him down.
He couldn't help marvelling at the creature. It was truly a thing of beauty. It was sleek, it was mean, it was powerful, it had a look that had money printed all over it. He could already imagine posters, action figures, t-shirts. Given how troublesome Galvanax's mood swings had been, he was also starting to imagine him with the title around his waist. He had no idea who this creature was or what he wanted, but if there was one thing he had prided himself on it was that everyone, even those that never intended to do what he wanted, always had SOMETHING they wanted...and he had a talent for figuring out that price! For Galvanax, it had been the promise of the Nexus Prism. He just needed to find out what this new arrival wanted.
He was interrupted in his train of thought as Wrench came into the room. He looked to him only fleetingly before turning back to the image on the screen.
"I was half expecting Odious." He told him. "So close to a title bout, I was sure she'd be lobbying for a better cut."
"I haven't seen her." Wrench said. "That is odd."
"What can I do for you Wrench?" Cosmo asked.
"I just came from the infirmary. Forcefear's on the mend." Wrench informed him. "He's already whining about getting his own back on the Rangers. He said he wants us to gigantify him straight away next time to make his forcefield stronger."
"That might not be a bad idea." Cosmo conceded. "Have we made any progress on the other project?"
"Other project?" Wrench asked, becoming concerned. He did have his own experiment currently running in the lab, one that he had started out of desperation as he saw his own position starting to slip in the ship following his defeat at the hands of the Pink Ranger. Cosmo just tapped the monitor.
"THIS!" Cosmo said impatiently. Wrench would have breathed a sigh of relief if he still breathed. He instead just nodded, trying to cover his moment of panic.
"Well...I have got something but...I'm not sure it's exactly..."
"You have information?" Cosmo rushed out.
"Well, like I said, I'm not sure how much credibility to put on it." Wrench admitted. "The preview reels were running in the taverns, and there were a couple of old timers there trying to mooch a meal, telling all sorts of wild old stories, ones that were..."
"Who are they?" Cosmo rushed out.
"Like I said, they were just a couple of old timers that looked like they were trying to scam people into buying them food and drinks." Wrench said to him. "On second thought...I'm sorry I mentioned it. I'll just get rid of them..."
"They're here?" Cosmo asked. "Well, bring them in! I want to hear what they have to say!"
Wrench just shook his head, before opening the door. Some Kudabots dragged in a three truly pathetic looking creatures, tossing them on the floor.
"When no one would buy them food, they were picked up dumpster diving behind the tavern." Wrench said dismissively. "I'll just get rid of them..."
"Not so fast Wrench." Cosmo said, looking to them. "My cohort tells me you were telling some rather interesting stories."
"We were just trying to get food." One of them protested, a white, goat-looking creature. The way the other two just grovelled and snivelled behind him he looked like the de facto leader of the group, were one to be called such. "I promise if you let us go we won't come back..."
"No, I would like to hear what you have to say." Cosmo said, pulling out a handkerchief and holding it up to his face. "So...my pungent friend...what do they call you?"
"My name is Finster." He informed him. "These are my friends, Squatt and Baboo. I promise, we meant no harm..."
"I'm sure you didn't." Cosmo replied. Squatt pointed to the screen.
"Look, it's him again!" He whispered.
"Shut up!" Baboo whispered.
"But..."
"I said shut UP!" Baboo whispered a little more aggressively. Cosmo just smiled and snapped his fingers.
"Have three executive suites prepared for these gentlemen." Cosmo told Wrench.
"WHAT?" Wrench shrieked. Baboo, Squatt and Finster just stared, wide-eyed like they couldn't believe their luck.
"Oh, and tell the chefs to give them whatever they want, all they can eat, completely on the house!" Cosmo stated. Squatt just collapsed on the floor, fainting while Baboo started pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Cosmo just knelt down before them.
"You will have full access to all my hospitality." Cosmo told them. "IF you can tell me who this is."
"That?" Finster asked. "That's...that's the Green Psycho Ranger...Psycho Green!"
"Ranger?" Wrench asked. "Another Ranger?"
"Why haven't I heard of him?" Finster asked.
"Well...until we saw him we didn't know he was alive either!" Baboo told him. "We believed he was destroyed almost fifty years ago!"
"He was destroyed even before our mistress Rita Repulsa was released." Finster said uneasily. "Before that, he was one of the most feared agents of the United Alliance of Evil...even his fellow Psycho Rangers were terrified of him."
"Fifty years?" Cosmo asked, stroking his chin. That made sense! He had only been running the show for a little more than twenty years, and before that it was a minor league operation on its last legs far from the Milky Way. It also explained why his agents in the area didn't know of him. Many of them would have been children or perhaps not even born when Psycho Green was last active. Cosmo just smiled.
"Let's continue this discussion over dinner shall we?" He asked. "Wrench, wake that one up will you? Then take them to get cleaned up and get new clothes. They can join me in my private dining room where they can tell me all about this Psycho Green!"
As Wrench grabbed Squatt, dragging him from the room while he escorted the others out, Cosmo looked to the screen and hit a few commands. It superimposed the title belt onto him and put up some print.
"Your new Galaxy Warriors Champion, Psycho Green!" He said aloud. "Yes, that really rolls off the tongue!"
It was Wednesday Morning in the Marx house, and Hayley was once again cursing the biggest downside of being a Ranger. Although she was stiff and sore the day before, after a few hours the adrenaline had worn off, it was a whole lot worse.
"Thanks Kody." She said as he brought her trainers to her, scratching him behind the ears. She slipped on her trainers, before heading downstairs to get something for breakfast. Trevor was there, brewing some coffee.
"I was just about to call you." Trevor greeted her. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Not so bad." Hayley assured him, hugging him as she went to put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. "I'm hoping today will be a little more quiet than yesterday."
"I hope so too." Trevor chuckled. "I know we have medical insurance but just because I have car insurance doesn't mean I go saying 'Hey, now I can drive the wrong way up the freeway'."
"I'll try not to put up your premiums." She told him as she forced a little laugh. She knew he was trying to make light of the situation and joke, but she could tell he was genuinely worried. Sadly it wasn't like she hadn't given him reason to be. She did occasionally show up bruised, but over the last couple of weeks especially some of the battles had been really quite brutal and had left her having to come up with some really creative excuses for her injuries. Her Ninja Comm bleeped, at which she looked a little concerned. "Um...my friends..."
"Don't worry, I won't listen in." He replied as he picked up his coffee mug and headed out of the kitchen. Hayley waited until he was gone, before closing the door and answering it.
"Hayley, its Mick." He began. Hayley immediately found this a little odd. It sounded like he was calling her specifically. Normally he would put out a group signal and speak to whichever one of them answered first. He might occasionally call one of them specifically but generally that would be Brody. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"I'm not too bad; nothing an aspirin won't deal with." She assured him.
"Good, that's really good." Mick told her.
"Mick, not that I don't appreciate the check up but...why are you calling me here?" Hayley asked him.
"I just wanted to check. Do you feel up to viewing some footage of the battle?" Mick asked her.
"Do you really think I want to watch us getting our butts kicked again?" She asked him.
"I know, I wouldn't ask, but...this new guy. I've managed to isolate every piece of footage I could get, everything I could and I managed to get some footage of him. He appears to be saying something." Mick told her.
"OK?" She asked.
"The thing is, it's a language I've never heard before." Mick told her. Hayley finally understood. "I was hoping...if you feel up to it of course...if you could watch it and see if you can tell us what he was saying. It might help us figure out who he is and what he wants."
Hayley understood now. Thanks to her contact with the Ninja Steel, she had become what the others had sometimes joked as being a human Rosetta Stone. She could see or hear communications in any language and her mind would start to figure out the patterns and form it into a format she could understand. It was entirely unconscious, she didn't even realise until the others had told her that she was actually barking when she spoke to Kody, but it did come in useful. Of course usually its main use was things like if she lost the English instructions for her alarm clock or wanted to find out what Kody wanted, but since she had yet to meet a language she didn't end up understanding there was no reason to think if she heard the new monster she wouldn't be able to understand him.
"Yeah, I guess I can give it a shot." Hayley told him. "It's not like it can put us any further back can it?"
"Great!" Mick stated. "I'm cleaning up the audio as much as I can to give you the best chance. It should be ready by lunch time."
"I guess I'll see it then." Hayley replied as she hung up. The toaster popped, startling her. Kody came over to comfort her.
"This new guy's got me spooked Kody." She admitted. "The more we find out about him the better."
Meanwhile, Trevor was in the living room, just finishing off his coffee, getting ready to head to the precinct. He checked his messages on his phone, hoping for news on his comrades. The suit had assured him that its attack wasn't lethal and was purely a reflex to defend itself but he wanted to hear for himself. So far he hadn't heard that anyone had died, but since the energy wave had been powerful enough to overturn a couple of trucks, he was confident at least some of them had to be seriously hurt.
He didn't have any new messages, but he couldn't rely on that being a case of no news being good news. In his experience sometimes no news simply meant people were too busy and had bigger priorities than passing along messages to well-meaning colleagues. As he put his phone away, he saw Calvin coming up the driveway.
He tensed up as he saw him, and headed out of the door towards him.
Calvin wasn't really paying attention as he headed for Hayley's place. He was still stewing about Nitro, and how much work he would have to put in to repair it. He didn't really notice that Trevor was coming until he almost walked into him.
"Mr Marx, hi." Calvin greeted him. "Um...sorry, my mind was elsewhere..."
"Yeah, things can be like that can't they?" Trevor answered. "I remember how it is at your age. I guess you all have a lot on your plate right now."
"Oh, you have no idea." Calvin chuckled. "Exams, essays, projects..."
"He's joking?" The suit asked. "He thinks this is a joke?"
"Oh, I remember a lot of that." Trevor assured him. "It's pretty easy to get overwhelmed."
"Yeah, I guess so." Calvin said with a shrug.
"Such disrespect for authority." The suit said to him. "If he doesn't respect you, what do you think he does respect?"
"And when you do, it can get frustrating can't it?" Trevor asked him. Calvin just looked a little confused.
"Yeah I guess so." He answered.
"Hayley told me that you had a little mishap with your truck." Trevor pressed on. Calvin groaned and rolled his eyes. This was the last thing he needed, another gown-up lecturing him about yelling at his mom. He did feel badly about it, especially hearing from his dad how upset she was, but he was still mad about Nitro.
"Look, I know what you're going to say and with all due respect I really don't think it's any of your business..."
"He's lying!"
"Oh, I think it's very much my business!" Trevor said a little gruffly. Calvin looked a little surprised to hear that tone from him. "Hayley said she was hurt in a fall caused by that accident."
"Yeah...that's right." Calvin said, not really following what Trevor was saying.
"He's lying!" The suit reiterated. Trevor tried to push the voice from his head and concentrate on his conversation. He stepped a little closer to Calvin.
"This isn't the first time she's 'fallen' recently is it?" Trevor asked him. "I seem to remember her being a little roughed up just the other week as well."
"Um...I guess she was." Calvin said.
"He mocks you!" The suit told him. "No one is this dense!" Trevor put a hand on Calvin's shoulder.
"It's a little easy to let these things get away from you. To let your frustrations build." Trevor said, before tightening up his grip. Calvin got a look on his face, a mix of shock and pain as Trevor clamped down. He just stared at Trevor. "I just want to make sure you know that you shouldn't direct those frustrations the wrong places."
"Mr Marx..."
"A man treats those around him with respect, with care." Trevor told him. "I've seen a lot of people that didn't and I want you to know that does NOT sit well with me!" Calvin could hardly believe what he was hearing. Trevor had always been really nice to him, to everyone! He was sure that in his job there were times he had to be direct, but he had never imagined him turning that on him.
"Mr Marx, I swear I've never harmed Hayley..."
"He's lying!" The suit told him. "Make him see the error of his ways!"
"I'm not saying you have." Trevor replied coldly. "I'm just saying that you should look after Hayley, protect her. Because if I see her limping or with bruises or cuts, well, things could get...unpleasant."
He tightened his grip even more on Calvin's shoulder. He started to back down, it felt like his collar bone was in danger of snapping.
"Do we understand each other?" He asked. Calvin just hurriedly nodded as Hayley and Kody came out of the house.
"Alright, I'm ready." She replied, pulling on her jacket as Trevor hurriedly released Calvin. "What's...going on?"
"Oh, I was just catching up with Calvin here." Trevor told her. "Tough luck about the truck."
"Yeah, it's...just a truck." Calvin said, looking to him worriedly. "I can fix it."
"Best of luck with that." Trevor answered.
"Cal, the bus will be coming soon." Hayley reminded him. "I'll see you later Trevor!"
As they left, Trevor just stared after Calvin, who flashed a little look back. He hoped that this would be the first and last time he would ever have this conversation with the young man.
Afghanistan, some years ago, Trevor was sitting outside a building back in the barracks to be called. Neil, one of the members of his unit, was sitting pouring himself from coffee from a flask.
"Are you kidding me Neil?" Trevor asked him. "We're in the middle of the desert, most of us are baking alive and you're drinking coffee?"
"What can I say? I like my caffeine." Neil said with a shrug. Trevor just took a swig from his water canteen, before checking his watch.
"For Gods' sake, how long are they going to make us wait?" He asked.
"Lab tests take time." Neil reminded him. "Also, in case you hadn't noticed, it takes a while to get anything out here. I've not had a decent Columbian roast in over a month."
"Really? That's what you care about?" Trevor asked him. "Put the coffee away for Christ's sake!"
Just then, he saw a group coming into view. They were all wearing combat gear, but beyond that he didn't really recognise them. They weren't wearing any insignia of any kind, and they were carrying pretty top of the line hardware. They were also all wearing masks, which looked like gas masks, but they had been customised, painted into various different horrifying images of skulls or ferocious creatures. Trevor just nudged Neil.
"What's with those guys?" He asked.
"Oh, that's the Ghosts." He told him. Trevor just stared blankly at him. "You haven't heard of them?"
"Let's just assume I haven't." Trevor replied sarcastically. Neil just tipped his cup in their direction.
"Well Serge, those would be the finest private contractors that money can buy." Neil told him.
"Private contractors?" Trevor asked sceptically. "You mean mercenaries."
"That would be the size of it, yes." Neil answered. Just then, the door in the building behind them opened.
"Sergeant Marx, we're ready for you!" Someone stated. Trevor just sighed.
"About bloody time." He answered. He went inside, to the makeshift lab that had been erected for his unit to run the technical side of their investigations. He approached one of the lab techs.
"Alright, what can you tell me about this?" Trevor asked.
"Well, everyone was shot." The lab tech replied. Trevor just gave him a disapproving look.
"I could have told you that." Trevor answered.
"Well, sorry to say I really don't have much more than that." The lab tech told him. "I mean, we've got the measurements and the pictures you've taken and we've got the bodies, but with the exception of the fact they were shot with high velocity rounds I can't say much else."
"High velocity rounds?" Trevor asked sceptically. If they were back home that might mean something, but out here, in an active war zone, high velocity rounds really only narrowed it down to assault weapons and snipers rifles...both of which were all over the place. The sad fact was this region of the world had been flooded with such weapons now for decades. "Come on, surely you can at least tell me what weapons..."
"Maybe if I had the bullets or the brass I could but you've not given me much to work with here." The lab tech told him. Trevor just furrowed his brows.
"There were no casings, they cleaned up, but we did recover a couple of rounds." Trevor answered. "I dug some of them out of brickwork myself."
"I don't know what to tell you, they're not here." The lab tech told him.
"You're trying to tell me evidence from an ongoing investigation just grew legs and walked away by itself?" Trevor asked him.
"What I'm telling you is I never got it!" The lab tech reiterated. Trevor just turned and left. "Where are you going?"
"Well, apparently I'm not going to find any answers here am I?" Trevor said impatiently. "I guess I'll just have to find them out there then won't I?"