Trapsaw was running away, running for his life. His traps had failed, and the Rangers were stronger than he ever anticipated. Ripcon had assured him he would take care of the Red Ranger, but since he had seen him at the site of the tree, that meant Ripcon had to have failed. If Ripcon couldn't take him down, what chance did he have?
"Those Rangers didn't fall into my trap!" He whined as he got to a nearby refinery. "I need somewhere to hide! Ripcon is going to roast me for this!"
He got to the refinery, but unfortunately found himself running straight into a dead end. He turned to try and backtrack, hoping to find somewhere else to run to, but he was confronted by the Rangers.
"Uh...hi...um...I...I...was just um..."
"There's nowhere left to run!" Sarah warned him. "It looks like your friends have abandoned you."
"I'm sure they're going to send me some help any minute now!" Trapsaw told them confidently. "Ripcon told me he'd help me get revenge on you for..."
"Revenge?" Calvin asked. "Is this about that other one that looks like this guy?"
"Ripperat, yes." Brody explained. "He was his brother."
"You DO know that Ripperat attacked us right?" Hayley asked. "We were well within our rights to defend ourselves."
"On the other hand, those people did nothing to you!" Sarah continued. "You hurt my dad!"
"He got in my way!" Trapsaw answered. "And I'm sure my back-up will be arriving right about...NOW!"
The Rangers all looked around the area as he said this. There was no bright light, there was no sudden rush of soldiers, there was...nothing. If it wasn't for the fact that Trapsaw had attacked innocent people, the Rangers would almost have felt sorry for him. The only thing missing was a laugh track.
"What? Where is everyone?" He complained.
"I'll give you a step for a hint. Ripcon never cared if you got what you wanted!" Brody told him. "He only chose you because you were so pathetic that he would get sent to help you. He only wanted another crack at me. Now you've served your purpose, you're a loose end, only he can't be bothered cutting that himself."
"No, he's leaving that to us." Sarah added. "And I'm only too happy to oblige! NINJA SPIN!"
With that, the Rangers all morphed and fell upon Trapsaw as the cameras started to capture the action. Cosmo was watching from the studio, where the audience were in stitches watching Trapsaw's pitiful attempts to fight back.
"Never let it be said we don't have a flair for entertainment in all its forms." Cosmo stated as he kept an eye on his ratings. While he was pulling in strong numbers, he couldn't help noticing that they were still well below what he would have got from another broadcast. Ripcon had a lot to answer for, and Cosmo was determined to make sure he paid. He just had to figure out how to do it in the way that benefitted him the most.
Over at the hospital, Mr Tien arrived with his trucks, carrying the injured from the park into the loading area. There were a few doctors and nurses outside taking a break as the trucks all rolled in. Mr Tien leapt out of the truck as they started to swarm around them.
"We've got a lot of injured people here..."
"I'm sorry sir; you're going to have to move these trucks." One of the doctors told him.
"I'll happily move the trucks but first you need to attend to these people." He responded.
"What the...where did all these people come from?" One of them asked.
"They were at a protest at my site..."
"Wait, your people did this to them?" Another asked. Mr Tien recoiled.
"What? NO! You really think we did this?" Mr Tien asked them.
"Well..."
"Listen, I don't care what you think of me, these people need help." Mr Tien responded.
"You heard the man." One of them replied, throwing his coffee cup away. "These people need help; we can catch a break later!"
They brought a gurney over, unloading Al onto it. He still hadn't regained consciousness. He was badly burned from a shot from a blaster.
"Alright, this guy's in a bad way, his heartbeat's weak." He said, checking on Al. "I need a full work-up on this guy right now. We might need to get him into an OR."
"Is it really that serious?" Mr Tien asked.
"Put it this way, I hope this guy's a lucky gambler." The doctor replied honestly.
2011, Al walked into the office, heading straight to the refreshment station where there was coffee, bagels, donuts and other assorted snacks waiting. Not only did the company like to ensure their investors were able to get breakfast, throughout the day other refreshments would be put out. Considering the fact that on this floor their employees regularly brought in thousands, even millions of dollars in a matter of hours, they were keen to keep them in the office and at their desks! Al walked up, seeing where one of his colleagues was taking his morning "refreshment." Given the high-speed and high-pressure nature of investments, it wasn't uncommon for investors to take a little chemical assistance to fire them up. In the 80's especially the cocaine culture was so common that many firms simply ignored the fact that many of their investors had significant habits.
"You know that stuff's not good for you Jerry." Al told him as he took out a key, unlocking the liquor cabinet and pouring himself a vodka and coke. Jerry Goodwill was another of the investors with the company, one that was a good few years older than him. Jerry had been something of a mentor to Al, taking him under his wing when he first came into the company. He was a white-haired man with a white moustache, one that some joked was probably really white if he washed all the coke out of it. "How's the family?"
"Living in the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed thanks to us." He responded, wiping off his nose. "Melanie chucked that boyfriend of hers, thank God. I was starting to get worried this was one of those teen rebellion 'my dad doesn't pay enough attention to me' things."
"Was he really that bad?" Al asked.
"He dressed like a clown! He looked like he had career options in mucking out animal enclosures or sweeping road kill." Jerry answered. "And that name...who the hell names their kid Spike?"
"I'm sure it's just a nickname..."
"No, apparently that's what's on his birth certificate! That's the name on the school register for him!" Jerry told him. Al just shrugged.
"I'm sure his parents are interesting people." He answered. "So, ready for the day ahead?"
"I'm ready to plan our retirement fund." Jerry told him, gesturing Al in closer. Al checked around to see no one was listening, before pulling in closer. "Have you heard of Yaxley Investments."
"I've heard the name." Al said, taking a sip of his drink. "What about them?"
"They're selling like wildfire, they're plugging their stock for nothing, but the returns are off the scale!" Jerry said, looking completely energised by all of this. "Their returns are coming off way in excess of nine hundred percent!"
"Do you have an in?" Al asked him, becoming interested.
"You remember Beatson?" He asked him.
"Sure I remember Beatson. He works for them?" Al continued with his questioning, interested to see where this was going. Jerry smiled.
"He's been in constant contact with me. He's been showing me the figures, they're unbelievable!" Jerry announced. "He's even able to get us a discount if we buy a million shares."
"Yaxley...what EXACTLY do they do?" Al asked him. Jerry just laughed.
"Who the hell cares for a nine hundred percent return?" He asked him.
"Jerry...this sounds like a Ponzi Scheme." Al told him, suddenly becoming a little sceptical. A Ponzi Scheme was a common form of investor fraud that worked purely on investment. Promising large returns, the way it worked was encouraging a lot of investors to put money in, and in return getting them to encourage others to invest as well.
The problem was, Ponzi Schemes largely worked by virtue of using the money from new investors to pay for the returns of the earlier investors instead of through standard business practices. Companies that weren't actually generating profits or even manufacturing any products could still promise massive returns as long as people kept investing. In short, the scheme only worked as long as new people were investing since that was the only source of revenue. Needless to say, that business model was doomed to failure and eventually the whole thing would collapse, leaving considerable amounts of investors out of pocket, especially the most recent investors.
"Of course it's a God damned Ponzi scheme! Beatson's been trying to burn me for years since I sold him a dummy on that Iceland thing." Jerry told him. "But Beatson's always been a lousy bluffer. You and I can read him like a book blindfolded! We'll know he's about to pull the plug long before he does it! Of course going into it knowing that, you and I can buy up as much as possible and cash out before the whole thing turns up its toes!"
"There's only one problem. I don't know about you but I don't have the money available to buy those shares." Al told him. "My stuff's tied up right now."
"So's mine." Jerry smirked. "Of course our investors' isn't."
Al looked around to make sure no one had come by to hear this. Now what Jerry was proposing wasn't just illegal, it was the kind of thing that carried serious prison time. He was talking about using other people's money to buy stock for THEM.
"Jerry, that's pretty..."
"Ballsy? Tell me about it!" Jerry answered. "But it's kind of a buzz right?"
"Jerry, I'm all for a gamble but..."
"Al, have some God-damned faith in yourself!" Jerry told him. "We'll cash out by the New Year! We'll have everyone's money back in their pension funds before they even notice it's gone, and with a nice little bit of change on top! They'll be made up!"
Al gulped down the rest of his drink, before pouring himself another. Jerry had his coke; Al had his own way of getting himself worked up for the hard-sell ahead. He thought about it. It would be the ultimate payoff. He mulled it over as he took another sip and nodded.
"No one else can know what we're doing." He declared.
"You mean...?"
"Get on the phone to Beatson." Al told him. "Tell him he'll have his stake by the end of the day."
Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers were taking Trapsaw to task. The monster was strong, but it was clear pretty quickly that his brother really was the brains in the family. He bumbled and flailed around in a manner that looked like he was more of a danger to himself than anyone else. If it wasn't for the fact he and his compatriots had hurt so many people, Sarah's dad included, they would almost have felt sorry for him. Of course right now, that pity was not forthcoming, especially from the Pink Ranger.
As he was thrown back by one of her strikes, the Rangers all formed up a firing line. Preston, Sarah, Brody, Hayley and Calvin all transformed their morphers into Bow Mode while Levi called up his Rockstorm Blaster.
"Alright, take aim!" Sarah announced. "FIRE!"
They all opened fire, hitting him repeatedly. Sarah's energy arrow struck Trapsaw square in the face, before exploding. They all watched as the monster disappeared in a massive explosion. Brody stepped forward.
"Show's over, Ninjas WIN!" He declared. Preston came over to Sarah and put his arm around her.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
"I will be." She muttered. "As soon as I check on my dad."
"We'll get you there as soon as possible." Brody assured her.
Meanwhile, up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was watching, and the audience was too as the footage came back. Thanks to Wrench and a few choice sound effects from the production team, the footage of Trapsaw's 'fight' was going over a storm with his limited audience. There were monsters falling out of their seats, tears streaming down their faces at his pathetic attempts to take on the Rangers. Cosmo wheeled out his control unit and confronted the audience with their usual choice.
"So, what do you say? Do we want to see more of Trapsaw's routine? Or has the punch line worn thin?" He asked. His hand was hovering over the button for the Skullgator command, in preparation for the audience needing a little carnage in their broadcast after the farce that was the rest of the show. However, despite all the laughter, he was amazed as the votes came in quickly and the meter rose incredibly quickly. It hit the gigantify threshold before he could do anything to try and discourage it.
"Wrench, what the hell is going on?" He asked through his headpiece.
"I don't know...the audience like him!" Wrench told him.
"They...they like that...LOSER?" Cosmo asked. "But he's an IDIOT! He's PATHETIC!"
"I don't know what else to tell you, they voted for him!" Wrench answered. Cosmo stopped to ponder his position. He doubted that Trapsaw would suddenly turn around and gain a measure of competence now, but the only option he had was to over-rule the audience, something that had never been done before on his show. If he did that, then he risked the audience starting to doubt that they were in control of the show...of course they WEREN'T, but a large part of the show's success was the fact that they THOUGHT they were! He gulped and decided he had no option but to bite the bullet. He could exact his repayment from Ripcon's hide when he got back.
"You asked for it folks, and you're the ones who run the show!" He declared, slamming his hand down on the green button. "GIGANTIFY!"
Back at the hospital, Mr Tien was sitting outside the Operating Room while the doctors worked on Mr Thompson. He barely even noticed as Victor and Monty arrived.
"Sir." Victor greeted him, causing him to look up. "Sir..."
"Is everyone else alright?" Mr Tien asked them. Monty just nodded.
"It's mostly minor injuries. A few people will have to be here for a while, but most of them will probably be sent home by the morning." Monty told him.
"I'm glad." Mr Tien told them. He couldn't help noticing that they weren't leaving. "Is there something else?"
"It can wait until..."
"If there's something on your mind, I think I'd rather hear it now." Mr Tien interrupted Victor. He took a deep breath.
"Sir...I'd like to tender my resignation." Victor told him.
"Me too." Monty answered.
"I see." Mr Tien sighed. "May I ask why?"
"I wanted to be like you." Victor responded. "But now, I'm not so sure. I think I need to find what I want to be."
"Me too." Monty agreed. Mr Tien just nodded.
"I thank you both for your time." Mr Tien told them.
"We'll have the suits cleaned and..."
"Please, keep them." Mr Tien answered. "Consider them a thank you for your time."
As Victor and Monty left, Mr Tien just took a deep breath. Al's wife Ellie arrived, running down the hall. Mr Tien intercepted her.
"Where is he?" She shrieked. "Where is he?"
"He's in there." Mr Tien answered.
"What did you do to him?" She screamed.
"He's getting the best of care." Mr Tien assured her. "I've ensured..."
"You've ensured he's here in the first place! What the hell was he doing at that protest?" She yelled at him. "He's an AUDITOR! The biggest danger he's meant to face is paper cuts and misfiring staplers!"
"Mrs Thompson..."
"I don't want to hear it!" She screamed at him. "You better hope he makes a full recovery because if he doesn't, I will make it my mission in life to ensure that you suffer!"
She went to another chair away from Mr Tien and sat down, waiting for news on her husband.
Early 2012, Panorama City, Al was in his house, starting to get ready for work when he was almost bowled over by Ellie as she rushed around, a briefcase under one arm, and a bunch of folders under the other as she rushed around. She almost dropped everything.
"Whoa, sorry about that Ellie." He said, before noticing everything she was carrying. "What's all this?"
"Don't tell me you forgot." She responded.
"Um..." He said, losing all the eloquence and charisma he normally had when he discussed deals and tried to convince clients he knew exactly what he was doing, even when he was bluffing.
"Oh for goodness sake Al, I'm going to see the patent lawyer!" She told him. "I think I might finally have worked out the bugs on my latest invention!"
Ellie, like her daughter, was keen on electronics and engineering, but as a result of his job, she never really needed to work and stayed at home on the days. Her work was more of a case of tinkering than anything else, a glorified hobby. It wasn't like they needed her to work anyway. He could remember her being excited about one of her ideas but in all honesty, he hadn't really listened to what she was saying. For a couple of months, all his attention was on the Yaxley deal. He needed to keep that in his crosshairs 24/7 to ensure that he cashed out just in time to stop him being a victim and instead be one of the winners. Although it was Saturday, he was heading into the office to prepare for the cash out that day.
"The meeting! Damn...I'm sorry Ellie, I totally forgot." He told her. "Look, I'll call and set up another appointment, but I need to go into the office..."
"All you need is a computer and a phone right?" She asked him.
"Well...yes but..."
"GREAT!" She said, kissing him softly and heading out the door. "Then you can watch Sarah!"
"Ellie!"
"Al, it'll do you good to spend some time with her, she's barely seen you lately!" She told him as she got into the car, with Al shortly behind her.
"But I have work..."
"You can do that from here! I'll only be gone a couple of hours!" She told him, handing him the keys to the locking cabinet in the workshop. "Just, try to keep Sarah away from the dangerous stuff. She's a little too into her physics work lately and I caught her working on stuff that was going to be a little noisy!"
"But Ellie!" He called out as she pulled away. Al knew it was too late to do anything else about it. Ellie was blissfully ignorant of his activities at work. He got onto his cell phone and dialled.
"Jerry, it's me, something's come up. I can't be at the office today." Al told him, hearing some panicked yelling in the background. "Don't worry; I'll keep track of it at home. Don't worry, I know today's the day we dump the bitch."
There was more yelling from the other end. Al just went back inside to boot up his computer.
"Dad, I was going to do some homework..."
"Do it later Sarah." Al told her. "Daddy has important work..."
"But I really wanted to..."
"Here, here are your mom's keys." Al said, pulling the keys out of his pocket. "Keep yourself busy in the workshop for a little bit. I'll tell you when I'm finished!"
Little Sarah beamed brightly and rushed away to the workshop to play with her experiments as Al logged onto the system.
"Jerry, don't worry, I'm in. I'm ready." Al told him. "In a couple of hours, we'll have more money than we know what to do with!"