Author: Jaded
Story: Alpha Operations
Disclaimer: Power Rangers are owned by Haim Saban, Avengers and Co are owned by Marvel. I write for fun, not for profit.
Summary: When SHIELD starts sniffing around the Rangers, the Rangers take preemptive measures to make sure they don't get drafted against their will.
A/N 1: My substitute teaching, two week job is nearly over so I may (I say may cause too many teachers have been asking me repeatedly when I finish cause they need subs) have more time to devote to this in the coming time. Of course, once November hits, all bets are off as I have NANOWRIMO!
Chapter Three
The SHIELD headquarters was like any other office building she'd ever been in; boring grey monochrome and with desks spread out in a familiar looking grid pattern. The main difference was the security installed on each floor—at least, she thought they were on each floor. Sitwell and Romanoff had taken the foursome straight to the elevator and up to the top floor, where they'd discovered security officers posted at equal distances along the walls.
The layout for the top floor was open and airy, with windows facing every side except one. Sure, one side of the building had what appeared to be two separate offices and a conference room but the rest of the place was open floor with desks set up in a row by row pattern, each with high tech looking computers. There had to be dozens of desks and from the little she was able to catch before being ushered into the conference room, each was monitoring a different continent or country.
Hm. Good to know.
"Captain Mitchell," a tall dark skinned man with an eyepatch over one eye and a black leather get-up greeted the Lightspeed director with a handshake. She recognized him instantly, he'd been at her father's holiday party last year and hadn't seemed very happy about it. She's suspected then (and it was only reinforced now) that he'd only been there because the President had decided to accept the invitation (which meant so had everyone else) and he'd wanted the opportunity to network. The man nodded at Carter, shaking his hand as well. "Mr. Grayson."
"May I present Director Kimberly Hart, of Alpha Operations, and her lawyer, Adam Park?" Captain Mitchell greeted them. "They're here to speak to you about the Rangers."
"You're Senator Hart's daughter," Director Fury said, shaking her hand and studying her. She gave him her firmest smile.
"My father is aware I'm meeting with you but not why," she informed him. "He also doesn't know what Alpha Operations does and I'd appreciate it if he didn't find out from you. I'm sure you can agree that he has enough on his plate as is."
It wasn't a full out lie, her father really didn't know what Alpha Operations were going to do, but this was Kimberly's attempt to protect her father from schemes. She just hoped Director Fury left the man alone—he'd been and Oregan state Senator for ten years now and he had no plans on quitting anytime soon.
"He does," Fury agreed with a tight look that she took as confirmation he'd leave her dad alone. "You brought a lawyer?"
"Adam Park sir," Adam held out his hand. "I'm head of Alpha Operations legal team. Given the situation, I decided to handle this personally."
Technically Adam was Alpha Operations legal team but Fury didn't need to know that. Part one of this scheme was to make it seem like they were a bit more put together than they actually were. As it stood, the only official members of the AO were her, Adam, Jason, and Carter.
"What exactly will you be handling, Mr. Park?"
"The legalities of the Power Rangers forming a coalition with SHIELD," Kim answered before Adam could. "That's what we're here for."
"Alpha Operations then are..."
"The business front for the Rangers, as it were," Kim agreed as they all sat down. She was across from Mitchell, with Adam on one side and Carter across from him. Fury sat at the head of the table.
"I'd like to call in Agent Sitwell and my AD, Maria Hill-"
"No."
Fury paused and she had a feeling not many people had ever interrupted him before. She could see a spark of anger in his stance as he replied, "May I ask why?"
"The Rangers live by a Code," Carter was the one who answered. "We've asked Ms. Hart to follow that same Code in all her dealings as Director of Alpha Operations. Secrecy, as I'm sure you're guessing, is a big part of it."
Fury nodded slowly. He didn't seem happy about not having more of his people in the meeting but he was willing to adhere for now. That was a good sign.
Or possibly that they were being played, Kim wasn't entirely sure.
"So you were chosen by the Rangers?" Fury asked, looking at Kim.
"I was in the Peace Corps for six years and I was working as a peace liaison with Lone Wolf Industries when I was approached for the position," Kimberly said, sticking to the cover. They all knew it was likely Fury would put two and two together and come up with four eventually but the longer they could put that off, the better. And the info was true and would check out—following her stint in the Peace Corps, she'd been in charge of handling all the humanitarian efforts Billy's company did because, as the original blue had semi-jokingly put it, no one had a bigger "heart" than her.
"Kimberly and I are both from Angel Grove," Adam added. "Several times we both helped clear out civilians and assisted the rangers when it was needed. They remembered, which is why they found us. Afterward, our experiences simply made us easy choices for this project."
"A lot of people from Ranger cities, Angel Grove in particular, have gone on to work in volunteer and peace organizations," Kim added wryly. "Or the military. It's been a thing."
Fury nodded thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair. The information about the Ranger cities didn't seem to have surprised him so he'd probably already known. "Given that, they trusted you to have their back."
"And we will," Kimberly said. "They're not enemies, Director. They're heroes. They should be afforded the respect that deserves."
"I don't disagree," Fury said simply. His face hardened. "I simply don't trust anyone with that sort of power who doesn't answer to someone else."
"From my understanding, they do answer to someone, they just aren't of Earth," Kim said. "They're called the Morphin Council."
"And if the Rangers were to go off grid, what could they do?" That was what it boiled down to for a lot of people, her dad said. Rangers had, up to now, been almost exclusively heroes but there had been...exceptions and that worried the people in charge.
"Take away their powers," Kim answered calmly and succinctly. "The Morphin Council, and I've spoken to them myself as the face of Alpha Operations, is made up of former Rangers of other worlds. They're number one priority is protecting from evil, even if that evil comes from the Rangers themselves."
"They have the ability to take away a planet's ability to have rangers," Carter agreed. "And they've done it before, when Ranger teams have voluntarily gone rogue."
"How?"
"I'm not a scientist, Director Fury, but from what I understand, it boils down to them being able to cut off the, heh, power," Kim said, smiling a bit. "Every ranger gets their power from the same source, called the Morphin Grid. Every planet has a connection to it and the Council can cut off that connection. No more Rangers. Which, from my understanding, would be incredibly bad for Earth. Over the years, the Rangers have proven unconquerable—there are many who would take advantage of Earth's lack of Rangers to come in and claim it just for the clout it would give them."
"Also, the Grid is sentient to a point," Carter said and Kim blinked. She hadn't planned on revealing that but she was curious to see where Carter was going with this. "The Grid would never allow its warriors to use its power for evil. That's why they chose the Council—each member was chosen for their nobility, honor, and heart. Because of that, the Council will do anything to uphold the name and integrity of the Power Rangers, even if..."
He didn't need to finish, because Fury was nodding. "I still don't like that you don't answer to anyone on Earth, but at least you do answer to someone," he noted. He got a flinty look in his eye. "The Grid, you said it connects every world?"
"I wouldn't go looking for it, if I were you," Carter smiled, seeing where that was going a mile away. "People have in the past, former rangers and not. Those that found it said...they often wished they hadn't. The Grid doesn't like meddlers."
There was a warning there, one Fury had to have heard. He nodded slowly but she wasn't sure if he'd take it to heart. "Is that why none of the attempts to utilize the Lightspeed morphers have worked for anyone other than you six?" he asked and Kim could see Carter was surprised by the question.
"Most likely," he agreed after a moment of thought. "Before a morpher is bonded, the Grid...scans the person, for lack of a better world. If they're found worthy..."
"The power clicks on," Mitchell finished. "If not...nothing will happen."
Fury nodded again, looking thoughtful. "So reverse engineering the tech..."
"Wouldn't get you rangers, most likely," Kim offered. "No offense, but you're a spy and intelligence organization. From my dealings with the everyone involved, something tells me the Grid wouldn't approve of anything you'd want to do with a Ranger team."
"That said, we strongly believe, given what the Council has told us, that the Grid would never allow any of the former rangers to work for SHIELD," Mitchell said. "Rangers are usually chosen for specific reasons, to face specific threats, and...you already have fighters. The Avengers may just be enough to have the Grid cut off power to any ranger who would join SHIELD to fight alongside them."
Fury didn't seem to like that, not that she thought he would. "So us getting rangers would be almost impossible," he noted tightly and Kim shrugged.
"I'm putting my trust in what the rangers and the Council have told me and...yeah. I think you're out of luck on that front," she told him, being completely honest. No ranger wanted to work for SHIELD and so none would do so willingly, which meant the Council would intervene. It was the deal they'd struck with the group via Andros and her.
"Make no mistake, though, the Council approves of what you're doing," Carter said, smiling. "As do us rangers. You're trying to protect the Earth and we respect that—we simply have different ideas on how that can be accomplished."
"And what are your ideas?" Fury asked, head tilting slightly as he looked at them. "I'm assuming Alpha Operations has something to do with it."
"Good catch," Kim agreed with a smile. "Alpha Operations is a specific organization created by the former rangers. They've chosen everyone who works there, from me down to the janitors. Our base is hidden: it's an invisible untraceable island in the middle of International waters. The only way to get there is through specifically designed transportation pads."
They'd asked Zedd for access to Venus Island, which he'd promptly granted, even going so far as to formally give it to the Earth Rangers for use as their main planetary HQ. As the island existed in a dimension alongside their own, they all agreed the island was the perfect place for the rangers to stage from. Anton, Tommy, Zedd, the Earth and water ninja's under Dustin and Tor, and a few of the earth spirits of Avalon (including Xander, Madison, Leanbow, and Daggeron) had spent a week clearing it out for their use. As they spoke, various rangers and assorted allies were on site, building and setting up the actual base. Leanbow, who'd been more than happy to take over that particular job when Rita had asked him, had told her the last time she'd seen him that they'd probably be done in a week or so and those who needed to, could move in. Kim really needed to confirm everyone working there and quickly. She had a feeling Fury would want to visit.
"So when you said classified, you meant that quite literally," Fury said and Kim wasn't surprised he'd been listening in or had been informed of the conversation before they'd arrived on the top floor. He seemed somewhat amused which was either really good or really bad. She suspected there was little in between with this guy.
"Correct," she said, nodding. "Alpha Operations base has to remain a secret for the rangers and the employees own protection, but as a group, we're gonna go public as soon as an agreement is reached between us, SHIELD, and the UN."
"And what sort of agreement were you hoping for?"
And there it was. What everything boiled down to, what they'd spent months figuring out with the Council after Tommy'd called the emergency meeting in Reefside. She glanced at Adam, who gave her a small nod, and Kim turned to face Fury fully.
"Here's our proposal..."