The Puppet Master

by chickenscrews

Harwood's new city-wide force-field has effectively banished Warstar from its borders. But where one evil is temporarily warded off, many more take its place. Enter: the elusive Puppet Master and all his diabolical creations bred to destroy the city from within. Abandoned by Gosei when they need him most, the Mega Rangers may finally meet a foe too powerful to handle themselves.

2. Guardian Angels

Chapter Two: Guardian Angels

[Scene 01]

Gia sighed as she stood beside Emma's chair at the kitchen table. "Just…next time this happens, find some way to call me. You could've used Troy's phone."

Emma, meanwhile, was heartily enjoying the plate of pancakes Troy's roommate cooked for her. "I'm sorry, Gia. I just didn't want to worry you yet. I didn't even think you'd find out so soon."

"Emma, I have eyes in the back of your head, remember?"

Troy's roommate set another plate of flapjacks on the table for Gia. Though she hadn't said a word prior, it was clear she was hungry.

"Oh, thanks, Casey!" Then she saw her food. The top pancake was an effigy of a pirate face: a sunny-side up egg for the right eye, an eye-patch of bacon for the left, sausages for angry eyebrows, a hat of whipped cream with a skull and crossbones of sliced banana, a strawberry for the nose, a snarling mouth of blueberries, and a beard of scrambled egg. After the initial confusion, Gia cracked up in laughter.

Emma leaned over to look. "Oh, hey, yours is a pirate!" she noted happily. "Mine was a butterfly."

"Now a half-eaten butterfly," the roommate, Casey, replied. "Enjoy!"

Dark-blonde-haired and brown-eyed, Casey Rhodes was always delighted to see others enjoy his meals ever since his days as a humble pizza chef. Granted, his life at present was anything but esteemed like it was not so long ago, but it was the little things that made it worthwhile.

Gia took a picture of her piratecake with her phone before pouring on syrup and eating it. It wasn't often one would find the eighteen-year-old woman enjoying pancakes made to resemble a pirate, but then again, how often did she have the chance?

Troy entered the kitchen with the morning's newspaper in hand soon afterward, having already eaten and showered after his jog and ready for the school day. The four talked and laughed for a bit: of pancake effigies, of having Emma over as their houseguest, then to the more sobering topic of what might become of Emma if her parents had informed the school. They assured her she was in the legal right. When it occurred to Troy, he finally asked Gia how she managed to bring over Emma's stuff without the foster-parents badgering her. As it turned out, Gia had been sneaking over through the window to Emma's room for years to visit her and that was how she got in and out without Mr. and Mrs. Goodall noticing. When Gia somehow used monkeys throwing poop as an allegory for all the legal proceedings that could follow, Casey remembered he had to go to work at the zoo.

"Well, thanks for the monkey poop, Gia. I thought I already had enough to clean up at the zoo, but now it looks like I'll be cleaning court houses too," he joked as he left to grab his keys by the door. He turned back to them, "Hope to see you all again soon. Emma, good luck with your parents. Gia, I hope you acquired a taste for pirate flesh. Troy, please get the dishes."

"Later, Case," Troy called.

"Bye, Casey! Thanks for the breakfast!" Emma chimed in.

"Bye," Gia smiled and waved.

Casey locked the door behind him and Troy went to the sink to work on the dishes.

"Can I help?" Emma asked, ever the good houseguest.

Troy smiled, "Sure" and directed his fellow Ranger to the dish rack just beside. He would wash the dishes in the sink and she would dry them with the towel.

"Casey doesn't know about us being Power Rangers, does he?" Gia asked.

"Nope," Troy answered. "We've all kept this a secret, right? No humans but us five know?—not even our parents?"

"I haven't told anyone," Emma said.

"Me neither," Gia added.

Troy nodded. "It's the other two I'm worried about. Jake's mouth is sure to get him into trouble someday. And Noah…he's smart, but he uses the school's computers for Ranger business no matter how many times I remind him not to."

Emma asked, "Didn't Jake bring his Snake Axe to school one time?"

"What?!" Troy and Gia screamed simultaneously.

"…You didn't know that?"

A nervous silence from the sort've adults and a nervous smile from Emma, then Troy spoke, "Okay, we need to go over a few basic safety things at the next Ranger meeting."

"We have Ranger meetings?" Emma asked.

"We do now," the leader answered.

Gia looked at the newspaper Troy left on the table. The cover story and picture of the Blue Ranger and Tensou standing outside City Hall instantly caught her attention. Then she approached the other two and offered to place the dry dishes back in their proper cabinets. She continued as she worked, "Looks like Noah and Tensou's force-field's a big hit."

"And it's powered by the Morphing Grid, so no harm done to the environment," Emma added, clearly pleased with that important detail.

Gia replied, "But people are acting like it's the end of Warstar. That's getting a bit carried away."

"They'll find some way around it," Troy answered plainly. "In the meantime, those bugs'll just attack other cities without giant bubbles over them and we'll have to follow them wherever they go. Harwood may be safe for now, but the Rangers aren't done just yet."

"Why don't we just take the fight to them?" Gia asked. "It wouldn't be the first time Rangers have gone to space, so why not just get our zords and attack the mothership?"

"And we could even try and get the Legendary Rangers to help us in case things get out of hand," Emma added.

Troy shrugged. "Well, now that we're not on the defensive anymore, that's something worth considering."

That was the last of the dishes. Troy looked at the clock. "Socks and shoes, Emma," he said. "The bus arrives in a few minutes."

"Or we could just take my car," Gia interjected.

Troy stood dumbfounded, forgetting she drove here. "Oh yeah. We could do that."

[Scene 02]

Two shady men and one shady woman in grey work jumpsuits and caps gathered around the meager entertainment center of their darkly-lit warehouse, watching the old TV with shared interest. A fourth member of the cadre, a man, peered through the window to the outside. Frowning, the fourth bemused, "Our shipment is late. The Puppet Master will not be pleased."

One of his cohorts on the couch called to him, "Hey, come check this out. Think that's our truck on the news."

The watchman brisked to beside the couch with alarmed interest and saw his fears realized onscreen. The televised reporter was indeed standing before their truck: a semiautomatic now eviscerated and tipped uselessly on its side. Around it, the police escorted smugglers in handcuffs to the prison transport while Robo Knight assisted the paramedics in lifting the deceased troll into their ambulance (as it was much too big to fit in a hearse).

The male reporter spoke, "—just minutes ago, Robo Knight and the Black Ranger helped the police capture a gang of armed smugglers illegally transporting what appears to be a mechanically-modified troll. Yes, you heard right: a cyborg troll. It's still unclear why these criminals would go so far to smuggle a creature all the way from Briarwood, but police have the men in custody and say they will have answers shortly. The troll, however, did not survive the encounter with Robo Knight and the Black Ranger."

In his anger, the fourth's eyes flared red for a moment and he slammed his fist into the concrete wall, leaving a depression far deeper than any human should. "Just our luck! We've lost not only our shipment, but now the Earth authorities mean to interrogate our brothers!"

"Calm yourself, Tu'ron," The first on the couch replied. "The Puppet Master may have given us speech, but our captured brethren know to hold their tongues when their words may harm the collective."

"They would sooner die than divulge our secrets" the second added.

Tu'ron rebutted, "And suppose, in their fear, they develop a sense of self-preservation and squeal? It could jeopardize everything!"

The third, Cor'thar—the only woman—remained sagely mute, but pointed back to the screen and all her comrades, even outraged Tu'ron, followed her direction.

"—ere is another interesting detail captured by our news cameras; though only for a few moments, it seems as though Robo Knight and the Black Ranger had something of a falling-out." Footage taken from a distance played the brief quarrel between the sentinel and the Ranger, mesmerizing all viewers who were surprised to see their heroes fighting. The reporter continued, "Though we aren't sure what incited this disagreement between them, it looks like tempers have cooled and the Black Ranger has left the scene while Robo Knight stayed behind to help cleanup. Uh, excuse me—Mr. Robo Knight?" The reporter attempted to interview the robot as he left the ambulance to join the police. "Do you have anything to say about your falling-out with the Black Ranger?"

"Negative," the sentinel brushed him off, never pausing for the camera.

"But it really did seem like you were going to fight each other. Don't you want to reassure the people of Harwood that all is well with you and the rest of our heroes?"

Robo Knight shoved the camera away and continued his stride, "No further questions."

The reporter was left dumbfounded where he stood, but quickly recomposed himself. "Well, interviewee or not, what may have been a crisis was averted today, and though the bonds between our heroes are now in greater question than ever before, there isn't a doubt in this reporter's mind that they will continue protecting us regardless of personal issues. Back to you, Greg."

After a brief silence between the four in the warehouse, the second smuggler mused aloud, "Rangers infighting? The standards have fallen since the days of our forefathers."

Tu'ron countered, "Then we are weaker still for having lost to such a divided team!"

The first rebutted, "The robot is an unexpected player, I'll admit. But we couldn't have anticipated this—when have the Rangers ever had such an ally?"

"Don't give me that, Ar'lije," Tu'ron shot back. "The Rangers have always had machines beside them: the zords!"

"Our kind have never faced the zords, Tu'ron. We've limited experience in battling robots, let alone any this powerful."

The second, Sor'vek, butted-in, "Then what do you propose? If the city authorities have this Robo Knight acting as jailer to our kin, how can we save them before they loosen their tongues?"

Cor'thar, the silent third, arose from her seat and all eyes were on her. She pulled on a necklace string and produced the red crystal hidden beneath her grey jumpsuit. The other three understood at once what she meant. So the silent one circumvented the couch with the others following behind and paused before a wide clearing in the floor. She held up the crystal necklace and the jewel beamed with life. Her kin stood in parallel positions, forming a diamond among them, and did the same so that their crystals glowed with the same brightness. When all were lit, emblems once invisible on the ground blazed. The floor opened up and an arsenal of weapons yet alien to earthling militaries elevated to meet the four gathered 'round. Those who seemed as warehouse workers gazed upon the marvelous armaments and some already grabbed and inspected various arms, deciding which would suit them best in battle.

"This is a considerable risk we're taking," Ar'lije said. "Even with backup, an assault on Harwood's police station guarded by Robo Knight himself will be no easy feat."

Tu'ron paid no mind to the vast array of projectile and melee weapons, but eyed upward at only the centerpiece of the collection standing gloriously high in the midpoint. He smirked, "Easy or not, we gotta make sure our brothers keep their mouths shut, one way or the other."

[Scene 03]

An arm in a black hoodie sleeve wrapped itself around Noah's neck, head-locking him from behind in the grass lawn some distance away from the high school entrance. "There's my favorite science genius!" Jake greeted his friend as he added a noogie for good measure.

Noah laughed under the pressure, "Hey, knock it off, man!"

Jake released him from the wrestling hold, but still held his arm over his shoulder in a half-hug as they kept on walking. He said in a less extravagant tone so that only they could hear, "Congrats on your new force-field, dude. This is a giant step against Warstar here."

Noah chuckled, adjusting his glasses. "Thanks, Jake. It feels good to finally have the thing done. Maybe we'll even get a break from fighting for a while."

"Waddayou think it's gonna look like when they try to break through?—giant laser beam deflecting all over the dome?—some big ugly goons trying to smash it open with a hammer? You think that'll give us any headaches?"

"I'd rather not think on that right now…but I wouldn't hold it beneath them to try it."

"The hammer thing?—Oh, hey!—there's the others." Jake brightened at seeing Troy, Gia, and Emma walking along the main entrance of the school. He almost called them to wait up, but held his breath when the principal intercepted the three. Though they were far out of listening range, the two friends could tell the others were uneasy with the principal's words, Emma especially. They even noticed that Troy and Gia now stood between the Pink Ranger and the middle-aged man as if to protect her. Jake released his arm from Noah's shoulder and the two watched in concerned silence as the principal motioned the three to follow him. They complied.

Jake and Noah exchanged worried glances and hurried after them.

By the time the duo caught up with the rest (and ignored a warning from the janitor not to run in the halls), they were already halfway through the main office's door.

"Troy!" Jake called from the end of the hallway with Noah some yards behind.

The three Rangers and the principal paused at the unexpected intervention and turned to meet them.

Once he reached them, the Black Ranger continued (Noah still catching his breath), "Hey, what's going on, man? Is someone in trouble?"

The Ranger leader was blunt, "I'd rather not explain right now. We have to take care of this."

"Dude, if any of you are in trouble, it's me and Noah's right to know. Just fill us in and let us help."

The principal spoke, "Young man, you should listen to your friend. Now, both of you get to your homerooms before you're marked tardy."

Jake protested, "But—!"

Gia interrupted, "Jake, Noah, we'll explain everything at lunch. But right now, we're dealing with something extremely important here and we can't afford to waste any time answering your questions. Okay?"

Jake prepared to object, but Noah grabbed his arm. "Don't worry, Gia, I'll get him to class."

With Emma closest to the Blue and Black Rangers since Troy and Gia were her shield from the authority figure, it was easy for Jake and Noah to see her distressed face, one bordering on tears. Noah patted Emma on the shoulder. "Good luck in there," he tried to comfort her.

She quietly thanked him. Then the company of four disappeared behind office doors.

Jake shook his head. "We should be in there with them, man."

"And we will be." Noah produced two separate ear buds from his pocket.

Understanding, Jake sighed and laughed. "Did you just plant a bug on Emma?"

"I did."

[Scene 04]

"Let's not waste any time here," the aging principal said behind his desk. "Emma, you've caused a lot of trouble running away from home last night."

"Emma didn't run away, sir," Troy defended her. "Her drunken parents threw her out of the house. She needed to stay away from them."

"And how does that concern you, Mr. Burrows?" the principal rebutted.

Emma answered, "Troy let me spend the night with him. He was already in the neighborhood when my parents threw me out."

The principal raised his eyebrows. "Then, you were with Troy and his family all night?"

"Troy doesn't live with his family," Emma said. "He's eighteen. He shares an apartment with his roommate."

The principal appeared more astonished now than ever. "I'm sure you're aware of how you spending the night with a male classmate without parental supervision will sound to the authorities, Miss Goodall?"

"They didn't do anything, sir," Gia asserted, indignant at what the man would even think to imply. "Troy was just keeping her safe."

"I'd like to believe that, Miss Moran. But right now, I'm trying to piece together what you're all telling me to what I've been told by the police and Emma's parents. Why didn't any of you alert the authorities?"

"Who do you think grownups would rather believe," Emma answered, "some dumb kids or other grownups? I knew my parents would lie by saying I ran away and I was right."

"But if you were in genuine danger by your foster-parents, you were in the legal right. You could have called the cops. The fact that you didn't makes your plea all the more suspicious."

"It was late," Troy replied. "Emma was tired. It was a school night. She just needed her sleep—not the hassle of an all-nighter of legal work."

The principal rubbed his eyes. "Listen: the police are your friends. There's no excuse for not calling them. If you were kicked out of an abusive home, you'd only have to tell them and they'd keep you safe. If you wanted, they'd even let you stay with Troy or Gia or any of your friends and not tell your foster-parents about it. They don't want child abusers anywhere near their children. That's what the police do: serve and protect."

Emma began to tear up. "It's like Troy said; I was tired. I wasn't thinking. Maybe none of us were. I just needed a place to stay. I just needed to sleep without being afraid of what might happen if I stayed on the streets. Don't I deserve that much?"

The principal meditated on her words. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to let the police know that you're alright and give them your side of things. Then we're going to have a parent-teacher conference after school and sort this whole thing out. All perspectives. All sides."

Gia spoke, "I'd like me and my parents to be there too, sir."

"And why's that?"

"My house was the first place the police came to look for Emma last night and we stayed up making phone-calls and looking for her way into the morning. She's been family to us since before she could walk. It's only right that her real family's there for her when she needs us the most."

The principal considered it. "Very well. That'll do. Troy, I'd like you there as well. I think Emma's parents would like to know what sort of person she spent last night with."

Shortly after, the three were dismissed. They all entered Mr. Burley's class with tardy slips mid-lecture and could see Jake and Noah's concerned faces, unaware they heard every word.

[Scene 05]

"It's okay, people," replayed the morning's footage of the Black Ranger in the news van. "Nothing to see here. Please move on with your daily lives. Enjoy the weather, enjoy our fancy new force-field. Take your kids to school, stimulate the economy—" The Ranger suddenly seemed to freeze in place, as if just remembering something important. Then he panicked. "School!"

Then he blasted off into the air, leaving a violet streak in his wake.

The cameraman paused the film. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked the reporter who failed to interview Robo Knight.

The reporter was adamant. "Yes, I'm sure. This footage must be destroyed immediately. We will not be the ones responsible for compromising the Rangers' identities. They wear those helmets for a reason, and if any of their enemies see this, it'd only be a matter of time before they unmask them. What's worse, this Ranger is a student. Maybe all of them are. Do you really want some giant monster attacking our schools because some idiots widely televised a clue that the Power Rangers could still be high school students?"

"I hear ya. I hear ya. I'll get rid of it." The cameraman removed the incriminating film, held it over a metal bucket, and lit the edge of it with his lighter. He dropped it in the container and the two watched the evidence burn.

"But the thing about news, man," the cameraman continued, "is that these days, anybody can report it. How many bystanders do you think recorded this with their phones and posted it all over the internet? If word gets out that a bunch of Joe Schmoes were able to record this and show it for all the world to see but two professional newsmen couldn't, we could lose our jobs."

"The Power Rangers saved my family's life in Silver Hills twelve years ago. For the past twenty years, they've saved the world more times than any of us care to count and never asked for anything in return. If there's anything a self-respecting human being could do for them, it's this. Keep our heroes safe. If anybody uploads this footage to the internet, they're a traitor to their own planet."

"So, we watch the watchmen. We, the people. But I wouldn't count on all of us being righteous souls. Someone's gonna try and show this to the world or use it as blackmail and when they do, I can only hope that the Rangers have some guardian angel to keep them safe."

On a computer screen miles away and hours later, the fully-suited Mystic Force Yellow Ranger sang and danced onscreen to his own dorky non-copyright-infringing parody of a lively pop music video from the late 1980s.

We're the Rangers of love
You know the rules and so do I-I-I
A full cape-mitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from another magi
I-I-I-I can spell it out with my lightning
Just to make you understand…

Noah sighed in relief at the embarrassing viral video from his usual desk in the school's computer lab, where the screen faced the door and anybody walking in or passing by could see what he was doing. "Well, that's the last of it," he told Jake, the only other person in the room. "I've just replaced the last video of your little 'school' outburst with 'Chip Astley' here. Turns out, you can find some disturbing things in the Ranger archives."

It was clear a tremendous weight had been lifted off Jake's shoulders. "Oh, thanks, man. You're the best."

"Don't celebrate just yet. This still doesn't account for anyone who may have downloaded these videos or may just re-upload them. And what about the people who still have the originals on their phones or the news team that was there? I got the first wave of uploads, but don't count on this being the last."

Jake was turning pale. "I'm gonna deal with this my whole life, aren't I?"

"Maybe not. I can have Tensou monitor future Black Ranger media on the internet, and with any luck, we'll be able to track the people uploading this and delete the original files."

"But the original news footage…when they air that…"

Noah sighed. "Yeah. That's gonna be a problem. Did you see which news team it was? Was it the local one?"

"I really didn't notice." Silence, and then Jake asked, "Be honest with me—how badly have I screwed over the team?"

"It's not the team I'm worried about. It's everyone else at this school. If our enemies watch that clip and learn you're just a high school student, it'd only be a matter of time before they attack this place just to draw us out. It'd be Astronema's invasion all over again if it wasn't for the new force field to keep them out. …On second thought, they wouldn't risk it. Reporters aren't idiots. Once they realize how dangerous releasing that footage can be, they'll hide it. They wouldn't dare show something like that."

"But they'd still have the film lying around, right? What if somebody gets ahold of that and uses it against us for blackmail?"

Noah thought for a moment and then resumed in a whisper, "Are you suggesting we steal it? Break into the news station and destroy the evidence?"

Jake swallowed anxiety and returned Noah's whisper, "Unless you got another idea, why not? We can just ask Robo Knight which news team was there, we sneak in the building after everyone goes home, use some science doohickey to find the recording, and destroy it."

Noah shook his head. "Science doohickey…? It's not that simple, Jake."

"So what, we just let them keep it? How can we trust them to protect it from the bad guys?"

"Unless there were any Warstar agents on the scene when that was recorded, I don't see them finding out about it from the news any time soon, let alone breaking into a news station for something they don't even know exists. And besides, it's impossible for Warstar to have been there thanks to the new shield, remember? No, if the Bugs ever find out, it'll be from one of these internet videos and Tensou and I'll be working on stopping these at their source. But even then, do you really think evil space aliens are gonna browse our internet for information when their own databases have everything they think they need? What business would they even have online?"

Jake focused on him with stark grimness. "Do you have any idea how many funny cat videos there are on the internet?"

Noah stifled a laugh. "Yeah, I really don't think Bugs find cats adorable the same way humans do. Therefore, they have no reason to use human internet or even consider the possibility of finding incriminating Ranger videos on there. I don't think Warstar even believes we're advanced enough to have an internet—or maybe their industrial boom led them in a different direction and they never even conceived a World Wide Web."

Jake paused, dumbfounded. After considering it for a second, he gradually burst into laughter. "These super-advanced, high-tech aliens that conquered galaxies and fly around the stars in funky spaceships aren't even smart enough to invent their own internet?!" His face reddened and eyes watered from the sheer intensity of his guffawing.

"It's…really not that funny," Noah tried to calm him down.

But it wasn't just the thought of aliens without internet that amused him. It was knowing that he'd been so close to blowing his cover and causing a terrible incident all from a moment of carelessness about his identity that might've haunted him for the rest of his life but was still somehow saved by his friend's own ingenuity and his enemies' own stupidity that incited this joyous outburst.

Noah reclined in his chair. "Well, you sure got off lucky this time. But in the future, try a little harder not to leak sensitive information to the dim-witted public."

And then the Irony Fairy manifested as the Rangers' very own homeroom teacher, Mr. Burley, who overheard Jake's laughter and entered the room. "Are you boys still here? School ended almost three hours ago."

Noah panicked and jumped from his seat, attempting to cover the computer screen in the vain hopes he wouldn't leak sensitive information to the dim-witted public. Jake suddenly froze in silent terror and then leapt in front of the computer screen as well.

"Uh—hey—Mr. Burley," Noah nervously stuttered, "wh—what are you doing here?"

"Yeah," Jake added, "what brings you to this fine lab?—of computers?—at school?—on this particular evening?"

"Is that a new tie?" Noah tried further to distract him.

Mr. Burley placed his hands on his hips, "Are you two up to something dastardly? I should hope not! Jake, have you been negatively influencing Noah with immoral internet paraphernalia? And Noah, I should expect better from you."

"There's nothing dastardly or immoral going on here, sir," Noah pleaded.

"Yeah, whatever it is you just said, that's not what's happening," Jake added.

The old man wagged his finger, "If the two of you are using the school's computers to break the rules, it's my job to know. Now, stand aside so I can see for myself if—"

Onscreen, the Mystic Force Yellow Ranger continued his performance whilst shooting lyrical lightning from his fingers. Maddie and V (his team's Blue and Pink Rangers, respectively) danced beside.

Never gonna blitz you up
Never gonna zap you down
Never gonna fly around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna hope you die and curse you…

Mr. Burley smiled at the video. "Say, that's quite the catchy tune! And who knew the Power Rangers knew how to dance? But I thought the Yellow Ranger was a girl and the Blue Ranger a boy? Oh, what does it matter?—those humans of indeterminate gender know how to groove!" Then the elderly teacher shook his own groove thang and danced along with the video (though he obviously didn't know the steps).

Noah and Jake exchanged confused and relieved looks, hardly believing they panicked over something that seemed so harmless to the unsuspecting passerby.

"Next time, don't worry me like that," the old teacher chided them. "And you should know that the school's computers are for educational purposes only."

There was a smart-aleck comment to be made about how deviant internet browsing was educational in a sense, but the two boys resigned to a simple "Yes, Mr. Burley," and that was the end of that. Mr. Burley left the computer lab, humming the song and dancing into the hall in a jubilant state, accidentally knocking over the janitor's equipment by the time Noah and Jake turned back to each other. And while the two unaware Rangers exhaled in overwhelming relief at their close call, poor Mr. Burley was pursued through the halls by a very angry janitor.