November 1978
Andy Welling stood next to the operating table as Shin Kazamatsuri prepared to be a test subject for S.H.I.E.L.D's newest experiment. During a breakthrough, they had discovered it was possible to infuse people with powerful energy by shooting that energy directly into their D.N.A, once perfected they could use this tactic to gain to upper hand against Hydra and end the battle before it could escalate further.
Shin and Andy had been friends their whole lives, so it only seemed natural that Andy would be there for his friend. Shin seemed more than a little nervous, but he wasn't about to back out of this. He wanted to take Hydra down at any costs, even if it meant giving his body to science.
"Hey, Shin," Andy said to his lifelong friend. "I know this is pretty shitty timing but I have a question."
"If you're gonna pop the question I'm not going to guarantee I'll say yes," Shin said with a grin.
"I'm heartbroken," Andy said, it was nice to see Shin a little less stressed, even it was just for a moment. "Anyway," He continued, "You already know that Candy is pregnant, and after a long talk with her we've decided that you should be the Godfather."
Shin was beaming at that statement when the mass of scientists entered the room. Everything had grown stale and awkward as the men took Shin's vitals and did a quick exam to see his current condition. After everything was measured the scientists dragged in a strange looking machine.
Shin smiled at Andy one last time before the machine roared to life. Charged ions collected on the tip of the machine, causing them to radiate a green color. Shin's smile quickly faded as the blast impacted him.
He screamed with all of his might as his very DNA was bombarded with energy. It was like a million knives stabbing into him all at once. He didn't even know he was capable of feeling this much pain.
"Stop it!" Andy shouted, "Stop the machine!" He ran over to the control panel and helped the scientist try to disengage it. Sparks were flying around the room, and Shin's screams became ear piercing.
The machine powered down and the room grew chillingly quiet, nobody spoke for a long time, and Shin had since passed out from the pain.
"I would call that a failure," Andy said in a bitter voice.
"Don't be so sure." One of the scientists said softly. He then pointed at Shin's skin, it was starting to grow small pale scales.
"What did you do to him?" Andy exclaimed.
"We've helped him evolve…" Was all the scientist whispered.
February 1999
Tran watched as S.H.I.E.L.D performed one of its standard surveillance flights. They sent a low-flying jet around to see if it could collect any information on Hydra. Tran's eyes followed the jet as it moved around, he couldn't help but think about how good a toy that jet would be.
Tran pulled out a game controller that connected to Television that displayed the jet, he then clicked a few buttons on the control that revealed a crosshair target. Tran moved the crosshairs over the jet and clicked a button, a small yellow ray hit the ship and caused it to shake around.
The pilot had just enough time to escape before the jet suddenly grew giant arms. Tran was very proud of his newest creation, and he knew it would be super fun to play with.
Victor was showing the newest recruit around the base when the sirens began to blare. The screens mounted around the building displayed the strange armed jet firing into buildings. Nick Fury quickly caught up to the two Rangers.
"Agent Welling, we need you in the hangar bay."
"Yes, sir!" Victor said and rushed away, leaving the young girl with Nick Fury.
"I don't believe we've properly met yet." Fury said, "I'm Nicholas Fury, and I run things around here."
The girl flashed a smile, "I'm Marissa Kling and I'm excited to be a Power Ranger."
"Well that's good to hear," Fury said and drew a piece of paper out of his pocket, "While Agent Welling is taking care of that jet I need you to go to this location to investigate."
Nick flashed a faint smile and handed Marissa a small metal case, "This is in case there's any problems on your journey."
Marissa nodded and rushed off.
Victor hadn't spent much of his time in the hangar bay, and the place didn't cease to amaze him. There was a whole slew of highly advanced aircraft, both experimental and deployable. S.H.I.E.L.D had gotten so advanced with their weaponry that the US government was actually commissioned them to develop tools for them.
"I take it you're Victor Welling." A man said to the Red Ranger. The man was fairly tall with dark brown hair and a goatee. He was dressed in an expensive black suit and generally carried the impression of superiority. "I worked with your father actually, has anyone said you have his face?"
Victor was thrown off by this comment, nobody really talked about his dad, at least not around him. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Victor said.
"Probably because I didn't tell you." The man said with a grin. His breath smelled faintly of alcohol as he held out his hand, "But I like your initiative, I'm Tony Stark, inventor, lead engineer, and major finance here at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"So which one is mine?" Victor asked as the excitement rose in his chest.
"This bad boy here," Tony said and displayed a high tech looking red jet. "I call her the Hawk Jet." The name actually carried some relevance given that the front of the jet actually resembled a Hawk's head. "Your dad actually helped draft the blueprints for this one."
"How?" Victor asked in disbelief, "That most have been years ago."
"Well, these things aren't built overnight." Stark said, "Well anyway if you fly her with your suit on you shouldn't have any problem piloting her."
Victor nodded, "Thank you, sir." He morphed into his armor and moved to the jet.
"Go get'em tiger or something like that." Tony Stark said coolly as he walked away from the aircraft.
The Red Hawk Ranger was filled with a strong sense of purpose as he fired up the jet. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was actually doing something. He sailed towards the monster with a giant grin on his face. Marissa pulled into the large brick farmhouse, the square shape of the structure reminded her of an old schoolhouse. Marissa felt a strange sense of isolation on the property, almost like she was the sole survivor of some global catastrophe. She went to the wooden door and carefully knocked. For a while, there was nothing but silence, but then a lady in her 80's opened the door, she seemed paranoid with Marissa but wouldn't outright say so.
"What do you need?" The lady asked. The elderly woman played with her arthritis ridden hands nervously.
"I'm here on an investigation." Marissa said, "Has there been any strange activity in the area?"
The woman shook her head, "Oh I wouldn't know, I barely even step foot out of the house anymore. I bet Hudson would know if anything strange happened. He's out in the field now, you might be able to catch up to him."
Marissa nodded, "Thank you." She said and smiled at the lady, who returned the grin. Marissa drove through the field, she hadn't ever realized how rough that would be, she was pretty sure her Jeep was close to completely collapsing.
She soon ran into a 706 tractor pulling a rake behind it as it cut down the wheat. The man riding the tractor noticed the Jeep and stopped his work. He was short, slightly overweight and dressed in overalls. He held out his oil-stained hand and said, "The name's Hudson, what do ya need?"
She took his hand, "My name's Marissa, I'm investigating a strange phenomenon we tracked to this location."
"You mean the yellow lightning?" He asked with a concerned look. "When it happened I didn't know what to think, I thought I was gonna die. What was it?"
Marissa was about to explain the situation when the gunmetal spaceship suddenly appeared overhead. The young woman swore under her breath as yellow balls fell from the ship and embedded themselves in the dirt.
Black creatures crawled out of the dirt and approached the duo, the grunts carelessly trampled over the wheat plants, which earned a very upset look from Hudson. "Those are my wheat, get your dirty feet off em!" The young farmer armed a socket wrench and charged at the grunts. He screamed as he knocked a few of them on their backsides.
Marissa watched with awe-filled eyes, she didn't exactly know what to do, she hadn't ever really been involved in a conflict before.
Her brain quickly flashed back to all the times she'd watched the Power Rangers on TV, they fought and fought with all their might for what they knew was right. She would have to do that too. She jumped at the grunts, her hands flying around randomly, hoping to make an impact of some kind against them.
The grunts were quickly gaining the upper hand, they overwhelmed the young adults, forcing them to group around Marissa's Jeep. Suddenly Marissa was hit with a new realization. She remembered what Nick Fury had given her.
She went to her passenger seat and grabbed the case. She opened it and her eyes opened wide. Two Morphers were set inside. She took the Morphers and handed one to Hudson while she strapped the other to her own wrist.
"What are am I supposed to do with this?" Hudson asked.
"Watch me." She said, beaming with excitement. She pressed the button on her Morpher and the wings shot from the sides. "It's Morphin Time!" She exclaimed as he was wrapped in white armor. It was similar to what the Red Ranger had, though her helmet was modeled after a swan. Hudson followed suit, he pressed the button and was wrapped in his own armor, though his was yellow and resembled an owl.
The two Rangers brandished swords and began to cut into the grunts. "That's what you get for stomping on my crop!" Yellow screamed as he slashed into two of the black creatures.
The White Ranger dodged an attack from one of the grunts who was wielding a red blade.
"I can't believe I'm really a Power Ranger!" She exclaimed.
The two of them were doing pretty good for two untrained warriors. They fought the grunts pretty hard and it seemed like they'd actually win this struggle. Of course, this came into question when the Japanese man dressed in a leather jacket appeared.
"So these are what S.H.I.E.L.D's been cooking up lately?" The man said he had a very ironic look on his face like he'd just made the joke of the century. The two Rangers armed their blades forward as they prepared for whatever he could throw at them.
Figures clad in gray uniforms appeared from behind the man and began to fire at the Rangers with assault rifles. Sparks raced off the Ranger's armor and the men continued their assault.
"Come on now, show me your fangs." The man teased. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D had better quality control than that."
"Can we even fight these guys?" The White Ranger asked, "I mean they're people! Can we kill people?"
"I don't know!" The Yellow Ranger exclaimed, "I'm kinda new to this!" The Owl Ranger slashed into a few of the black grunts while trying to dodge gunfire. "We just have to do the best we can."
The Hawk Jet quickly closed in on its target. The monster jet zoomed around aimlessly, it didn't seem to have much in terms of intelligence, which is probably why S.H.I.E.L.D prioritized its destruction.
The Hawk Jet moved in, tailing behind the monster by a couple of feet. After he gained an appropriate a level of distance The Red Ranger fired into the monster, causing it to spark and flame.
The Ranger then heard a terrifying howl as the monster spiraled toward the ground. It hit the black asphalt and combusted. Lucky no civilians were harmed.
"Good job." Nick Fury said from Jet's speakers, "But we have a situation outside of the city limits that could use your assistance.."
The Red Ranger nodded,"Yes sir," He headed towards the coordinates while trying to shake the disturbed feeling in his chest.
The Hawk Ranger flew his Hawk Jet over the specified location and dropped out of the pilot seat. His armor's built in wings carried him to the ground as he landed a few feet away from his partners as they tried to fight off the grunts.
The Red Ranger turned his gun to stun mode and fired at the gray-clad grunts, knocking them back and allowing himself to get closer to the two other Rangers. He figured the White Ranger was Marissa but he had no idea who the Yellow Ranger was.
"Oh, another one." A Japanese man said to the Rangers, "I must be getting close to the whole set."
The White and Yellow Rangers switched to supporting Red with their blasters as he charged through the swarm of grunts. Red was deadly with his blade, and chunks of the black grunts went flying through the air.
"I'm tired of this." The Japanese man said with a scowl. He opened up his arms and his eyes flashed red. Before the Hawk Ranger knew what was happening a grasshopper monster was charging into him. The monster slashed his elongated claws against Red's armor, causing a barrage of sparks.
Red threw his blade down at the monster, but the slimy green creature was quicker than Red anticipated, he was already behind the Ranger, ready to dig into him. The creature shoved the Red Rangers neck into its wide mouth and chomped down, raining more sparks and causing his armor to grow unstable. Red electricity ran across Red's armor as he screamed in pain.
"Victor!" The White Ranger screamed when she noticed the Ranger stuck in the grip of the grasshopper fiend. She drew her blade and tried to fight through the mob of foot soldiers, but the posse of gray-uniformed men regained themselves and fired at the White Ranger.
"Victor, huh?" The green monster asked. He threw the Ranger down and shoved his foot into the Ranger's chest. More sparks raced around his form as his armor melted away. The green monster looked into the eyes of Victor and smile spread across its horrifying face. "I should have known you were a Welling by the way you waved that sword around."
"Who are you?" Victor asked.
"I'm hurt," The creature said and placed its hands over its heart, "You've forgotten about your dear old Godfather, you've forgotten Uncle Shin."
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Victor said.
The man's grin only widened, "Me and your daddy use to be pretty tight, but things kinda fell through when he tried to kill me." Shin said.
The White Ranger took Shin's distraction as an opportunity to strike. She aimed her blaster and fired four shots at the monster. Three missed, but the fourth hit Shin right in the chin. The grasshopper monster screamed in pain as he gripped his jaw. The man prepared to jump at the White Ranger, but the Yellow Ranger moved in, he slid his blade across Shin's chest causing even more sparks.
Smoke rose from Shin's damaged form. He took one more look at the Rangers then turned around. "We'll finish this later," Shin said and quickly fled.
Victor and Marissa sat with Hudson in the kitchen of his farmhouse. Hudson's grandma had retired to her room for the night, letting the three Rangers talk freely.
"Thanks for helping me protect the farm," Hudson said.
"This is about more than the farm." Victor explained, "This is about fighting Hydra every chance we get."
"Yeah...about that," Hudson said in a small voice. He then set his Morpher on the table. "I can't help you guys anymore, I have to help out here."
"What?" Marissa exclaimed, "Why would you rather do this then save the world?"
"This isn't about what I'd rather do." Hudson explained, "My father died of a stroke a few years ago, I'm the only one who can keep this farm on solid ground. I've got to do whatever I can."
"I can understand that." Victor said, "But you've got a power that could affect the entire world. This is bigger than your family farm."
"What he's trying to say," Marissa said, "We just want you to think about it for a little."
"I think the two of you better leave." Hudson's mother said from the from the doorway at the other end of the house.
"Alright," Victor said and pushed himself out of the chair, "Thank you for your time ma'am."
"Anytime." She said with a grin.
After the two Rangers left Hudson noticed the Morpher was still on the table. He picked it up, feeling the strange weight in his hand.
"I don't know what they wanted," His mom said, "But it sounded important."
"Don't worry about it." The boy reassured his mother, "It was nothing."
"Do you know what your father would say about this?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow."
"Uh, not really," Hudson admitted.
"He'd tell you that helping people comes first." She said sternly. "Back in our day you couldn't afford to be rude to your neighbors, your life might depend on them one day. If you have a chance to help people you better be considering it."
Hudson was silent, but his grip on the Morpher tightened.
Eddy Winheart traveled through the darkened land of his dreams. His body was four years old again as he traveled through the gothic city. The world was empty and the sound of his shoes echoed like the faintest whispers of an accusation.
He approached a castle that seemed neither old or new. It's cobblestone brick clashed with the microchips that lined the walls, and the portraits of long-dead aristocrats seemed to watch with a powerful intensity and he roamed through the halls.
Eddy had this dream his entire life, it followed him like the lingering scent of death and never seemed to show any interest in leaving. As he neared the end of the hallway he feared what was coming next. It always went the same way, and the boogie man was waiting.
Yet he wasn't, or at least in a way that was different then Eddy was expecting. The Green Man was still lingering at the hall, his body was still and dead, with maggots crawling around his strange colored flesh. Yet there was a subtle shift, something that hadn't happened in twenty or more years. Several maggots lay dead at the dead man's feet, and a few more fell from his body before wiggling around a bit and growing still. Strangest of all was the rose that seemed to be growing from the Green Man's chest, it was just a bud now, but Eddy could sense it was close to blooming.
The world around Eddy began to shake, and his vision was rapidly tunneling, but before he was completely swallowed by the darkness he swore he could see the eyes gleaming in a faint yellow…
Tony Stark was examining five armored figures on his screen when Nick Fury appeared in the room. Tony's old friend seemed to have his standard deadpan expression.
"What brings you to this edge of the world?" Tony asked. He made a note to casually click away from the blueprints.
"Things are getting pretty intense." Nick Fury said, "It seems like Hydra is getting new friends. Have you considered giving it one last run?"
"I've considered it." Tony admitted it, "But don't get your hopes up." Tony leaned back in his chair and threw his feet onto his desk. "When everything happened the way it did I figured it was the logical place for me to stop. I still think that's true."
"Well just keep it in mind."Nick Fury said and slipped out of the room.
Tony Stark just smiled to himself. He had his own plans in mind first.