Power Rangers: Public Enemies

Chapter 13: Violence

"What is the meaning of this!" Mack was being pushed by the Military personnel. "Come on, we didn't… we HAD them!"

"Be quiet!" The Officer pushes him with his rifle. Mack falls, and hurts his jaw. Taylor rushes to his side to help him up. However, she is stopped by another soldier.

"Let me go!" Taylor was about to punch the soldier, but stops herself. She knows she is vastly outnumbered. "Why'd you intervene? The US Government said we had three days!"

"Congress has deemed the situation to be too critical to be trusted to the hands of civilians. Therefore, we have orders to hunt down all Rangers." The leader of these Special Forces, wearing a protective helmet that concealed his identity, pushes Taylor into the ground.

"Miss, sorry. Let me help you up." A young soldier extends his hand towards Taylor. However, she rejects his help.

"Wait a minute. Hunt down ALL Rangers?" Chad steps forward. Several soldiers ready their weapons. "Why! Only a handful of Power Rangers are actually unregistered!"

"Sir, you seem to have forgotten. Several of these Rangers have expressed open hostility towards the Government. This is now a National Crisis." The Major taps Chad's chin with a baton. "You're relieved of duty."

"No! We were doing fine!" Mack gets up. Several soldiers cock their guns, ready to fire.

"Mack! Stand down!" Taylor extends her hand in a commanding fashion. Mack does as she says.

"Take those two Rangers into custody. The rest of you, after that Yellow one!"

Over in Outer Space…

The Astro Mega ship (Mark 3) was orbiting Aquitar. Andros observes as the drop ship he had dispatched earlier returned.

"Billy!" Andros walks towards the Veteran Ranger. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." Billy looks somewhat younger than he did a few hours ago. The effects of the Mystic Waters of Aquitar. "How goes the situation?"

"Billy, I won't lie. I am glad I do not live on Earth." Andros rubs his temple. "Shit's getting worse everyday."

"What about that thing we talked about?"

Andros places a disk into the computer. The screen shows a map of the world. "Well… so far, very few nations are willing to take the Power Rangers in. So far only Sri Lanka, Congo, Sudan, and India have expressed any interest in sheltering them."

"Each of those nations is currently under civil strife. Not a good idea…" Billy scratches his chin. "What about the other nations?"

"France, Spain, Greece, Argentina, Cote D'Ivoire, Singapore… every nation you suggested has rejected the idea of granting the Rangers any amnesty. Each and every one of them has cited 'difficulties.' In truth, each of these countries is still reeling from the crisis of last year. In fact, Greece and Spain are actually worse off now than they were last year." Andros looks at Billy. "You know, I still think we should just take them away to Space. It'd be easier."

"Andros, I've told them about that idea. Not one of them wants to leave Earth."

"Yeah… I can understand that." Andros sits down on his chair. "So… what will we do?"

"We continue with the second plan."

"I was hoping… you'd change your mind." Andros closes his eyes, thinking about what that plan entailed.

Over in Silver Hills…

A young college student eats his sandwich. It was made from Government Issue meat. Though it was not as bad as last year, the unemployment rate is still unacceptably high.

"Excuse me, young man. Spare some change?" The old homeless man extends his hand. The young college student, without hesitating, digs into his pocket, and hands him a few dimes. The old man smiles at him, and says "God Bless you, my son."

The young man sees Wes and Eric pass by. Suddenly, his blood begins to boil. He squeezes his sandwich, and throws it at Wes.

"Power Rangers!" The young college student picks up a rock, and throws it at Wes. "This is all YOUR fault!"

Eric, angry at the youth, begins walking towards him. However, Wes grabs his arm. "Let it go, Eric, ok? Let it go."

"Pieces of shit! If not for you, none of this would have happened!" The youth grabs a plastic bottle, intent on throwing it. The old man grabs his arm, while several strangers try to calm him down.

"Come on, kid. You don't want to do this." A young high school girl tries to calm him down. "It's not worth it."

However, the young man manages to push these good people out of the way, and rushes towards Wes. Eric, having had enough of that kid, morphs, pushes Wes out of the way, and punches the boy right in the stomach. The blow was strong enough send him flying about two feet away.

"You little piece of shit!" Eric walks towards the student, ignoring the pleas from bystanders to let him go. Eric stomps the guy's stomach. Suddenly, the pleas turn to jeers. Several bystanders start screaming at Eric, demanding that he stop. Suddenly, a laser blast hits Eric from behind. As he rolls on the ground, he finally sees Wes, morphed and blaster at the ready.

"Eric. Enough." Wes' voice is commanding. He means business. Eric gets up, and looks at the kid he just beat up. A wave of shame hits him, as he sees the youth lie on the floor, slipping out of conscience.

"I'm sorry." His apology is drowned by the anger of the crowd. They scream at him, calling him names best left unrepeated. They can't see it, but his face is now running with tears. Eric does not even try to defend himself when several of these bystanders start throwing rocks at him. Several Silver Guardians arrive, to put a stop to the coming riot. However, Eric calls them off. He de-morphs.

"Ok… I'll take it." Eric is pelted with several stones. Wes tries to intervene, but Eric will not let him. As Eric's bruised body hit's the floor, blood coming out of various cuts in his face, he is saved by an old man.

"Enough! All of you!" It is the same homeless man from before. "What is the matter with you! He stopped beating the kid! Why does he have to die, too!"

"Get off the way, old fart!" A large man throws a stone at the old man's face. As blood runs down his old, wrinkled face, he remains staunch.

"Listen to me! This young man's had enough! Look at you! Just moments ago, you were trying to impede violence! Why!" Another stone. Several Silver Guardians begin to try to arrest the riotous citizens. Some prepare their blasters…

Meanwhile…

Kenneth was now surrounded by the Military. To them, he seemed hostile. But within his helmet, you could see how scared he really was. Suddenly, a red Aura of energy blasts away some of the soldiers! A red blur arrives, and several more soldiers fall down!

"Ok guys! Listen to this!" Casey stood triumphantly in front of Kenneth, fully morphed in Jungle Master Mode. "You guys have declared war on the Power Rangers! Now, you get to face the Power those other guys were too nice to use!"

Casey charges his ki on his foot, leaps upward, and does a kicking motion. The collected ki fires onward like a wave of energy, wiping out the majority of the soldiers that had moments before tried tacking aim at him. A lone soldier tries to shoot Casey, but he is caught off guard by Ethan, who takes his gun away.

"What is this! Bullets!" Ethan breaks the gun in two with his Morphed hands. "Get with the program! It's all about lasers!"

That was the only soldier that was allowed to leave. As several bodies lay on the grass, Kenneth thanks his saviors.

"Hey! Casey and I are starting a new movement! Wanna join?"

"Yeah dude! We kicking the Government's ass!" Casey extends his hand toward Kenneth. Though Ken hesitates, he eventually shakes Casey's hand. Thus, Kenneth chooses…

Over in North Dakota…

A young girl is watching the news with her parents. Many experts comment on the rebellious Rangers, saying that the Government should use deadly force, if necessary. Her father looks on with worry. He fears for his country, and more importantly, for his family. The young girl, however, keeps looking at the picture she drew. It is a picture of herself as the Pink Wild Storm Ranger, a Power Ranger of her own creation. She hugs the crude drawing, unwilling to let go of that dream…