Zordon, Alpha and Rock Monsters
"So much for stealth." Karen noted. And for that comment, our hero was grateful only he could hear her.
This was not just embarrassing; this was beyond embarrassing: This was...this was... He couldn't even find the words to describe how this felt. Mr. Stark and Ned would/ were going to be so disappointed in him. And Aunt May would never let him forget this.
For a full two minutes, no one moved.
"OH MY GOSH!" Billy squealed, and it was abundantly clear he was a fanboy. "Spider-Man is standing in front of me! C-can I get an autograph? Are on you on an Avengers mission? Chasing down that flying guy?"
A whole slew of other questions escaped Billy's mouth, and our hero was shocked/ worried about all of that.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Zack asked.
"Um...I happened to be in the neighborhood?" He suggested weakly.
"In the middle of the forest?" Kimberly asked, eyebrow raised.
"At night?" Jason was quick to add.
It was at this point that Spider-Man really wished he had a slew of excuses to use for situations like this; the whole 'in the neighbourhood' thing got old real fast.
"Sorry, that's all your getting."
It was then that he realized that Zack was staring at him with great interest.
"Can I help you?"
"You know, you sound a lot like...Peter Parker." Zack noted.
'Uh oh.'
All of a sudden, a sound/voice box would've been really useful...
"Yeah, know that you mention it, he does..." Jason realized, Zack moving in with him.
'Double Uh oh...!'
"W-w-what? Peter? Whose Peter?" Spider-Man asked, trying to sound as shocked as possible. "I-I don't know who that is! But from the way you're talking about him, he sounds like a cool guy!"
"Subtle." Karen added, sarcasm obvious.
"You. Hush. Up." He whispered, realizing they heard him. "Oh, uh...AI in my head's being snarky."
"That doesn't answer our question." Kimberly noted. "What is a New York superhero doing out here?"
It was at this point that Spider-Man wished he had ninja training so as to get away from this situation. Luckily, he wouldn't have to answer, because no sooner did Jason make his quip, did the ground under the five local teens give way and they fell downwards.
Without missing a beat, Spider-Man fired a web-line for each and tried to pull them back up, only to be dragged along with them. He planted his feet on the walls and tried to stop with all his might, only for the webbing to snap. Before he could leap down and try to grab them...
SPLASH!
Letting out a sigh of relief, he let go and let himself fall until he caught the glimmering of water and
"Everyone okay?" He asked in spite of himself.
"What do you think?" Trini asked.
"Yeah, dumb question." He was just about to try and web at least one of them into his arms (he was thinking of Trini, then Billy, Jason and Kimberly with Zack last), when the five local teens started glowing different colors. The water began to drain away, revealing, among the cave paintings, a certain familiar ship that was the cause of all this.
"Should we just...go in?" Kimberly asked.
"Might as well." Jason mused.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." Spider-Man said. "I mean, we have no idea what's in there...and what were you guys doing when I showed up?"
"None of your business." Zack said.
"Actually, we were here because we think we got superpowers form these coins we found a few nights ago." Jason explained, showing off the red disk Peter had caught a glance at earlier that day. When the others looked at him, he simply said:
"I've already gotten into enough trouble with my dad and the law, I don't need any more. Especially not from a superhero."
SMPR
Try as he he might, Spider-Man was not able to convince the teens to not enter the ship, and they were soon exploring, when a clang was heard. Everyone hid, with our hero sticking to the ceiling and praying that whatever made that sound was friendly.
He was to be disappointed:
It turns out that the clanging was coming from the robot from the first time he had been here...which had started to drag Trini away.
An unfamiliar sense of rage had filled the superhero, and if Zack had not rush to her aid, he probably wouldve revealed himself and made the others dash to safety.
Not that Zack, in the long run, accomplished anything beyond getting the robot to let Trini go. A small part of Peter had chuckled at him getting tossed aside as the others raced to help the duo
"Don't move! We will kill you." Jason ordered.
"Kill me? How?: The robot asked.
"...There's five of us." Kimberly pointed out, thinking that meant anything.
"Yes, I know!" The robot responded, far too happy for something that had just been threatened and at a numerical disadvantage. "I've been waiting for you. 1, 2, 3, 4... Wait, where's the other guy?"
Zack groaned from behind.
"Oh, there he is!" It then grabbed Zack with a tentacle-like arm, dragging him back with the others, where Trini and Jason helped him to his feet. "There we go, all of you. Been waiting..."
"In a spaceship buried underground? How long have you been waiting?" Billy asked.
"What's today? Monday?"
" Yeah." Billy answered.
"Then...65 million years. I've been very lonely."
A silence fell over the room.
"Turn around."
They did as instructed, revealing what had to be the control room of the ship.
"Step into the foot prints." the robot requested,
"Hey, question. Um, what are you?" Billy asked.
"I'm Alpha-5, an alphormic lorcaid persona android." T
"...What?" Jason asked, voicing the thoughts of most.
"He said he's a Alpha-5..." Billy replied, only to be lightly shushed by Jason
"I'm a talking robot." Alpha explained. "You can trust me."
As the others made their way to the footprints, they each shot Spider-Man a brief glance, silently asking him to help when they made a run for it. He nodded, determination filling his form.
The second the teens had stepped onto their respective platform, lights and engines whirred, and Alpha became elated a face emerged from the wall; an old looking face that Spider-Man could tell was a very wise and powerful being not to be underestimated.
'Mr. Stark is not going to like this...' He thought.
As Alpha and the face began to chat, Jason, Billy, Trini, Zack and Kimberly made a dash for the exit, which promptly shut on them. With no other choice, they turned around to face their host.
"These are them?" The voice asked. "They are so small."
"Funny, I said the same thing." retorted Alpha 5
"You mean to tell me that the fate of the universe, is placed in the hands of these children?"
"The universe?" Zack asked. "That's a big place."
'You don't say?' thought our hero. 'Not the sharpest tool, aren't you?'
That was kind of mean, he realized. He'd apologize later.
"They're teenagers, somewhere between infancy and full maturity." explained Alpha 5. "It's hard to explain, really."
"Wait." The voice said. "There's one more. One without a coin. On the ceiling."
Alpha's eyes turned to where his master had directed him, and spied a familiar red and blue humanoid.
"You again?!" The robot shouted, its langauge returning to normal.
"Um, hi there..." Spider-Man smiled and waved weakly
"You're not interfering anymore!" Alpha snapped, rushing to a dash board and punching in commands.
"Alpha, wait!" The face in the wall begged, but a little too late. Instantly, other androids appeared and leaped towards the 'intruder', who fell from teh ceiling and punched two into the opposing walls. The familiar ringing filled his head and he ducked under a tentacle, grabbing it and throwing the robot through the door.
"Get out!" Spider-Man ordered the teens as the robots dog-piled on him, nly to be flung off and webbed to the ceiling.
Another batch suddenly descended and rushed towards our hero, who heard a fmailar whirling juts a second too late before firing what he thought to be webbing. Instead, energy burst from his web-shooters, detsroying the robots.
"HOLY!" Jason, Billy and Trini shouted in shock.
"AWESOME!" Zack and Trini applauded the superhero...who was not sharing in the emotion.
"KAREN, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT INSTANT-KILL?!" Spider-Man snapped at the AI. "I! DON'T! KILL!"
"They aren't sentient." Karen noted. "I thought you wouldn't care."
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Spider-Man shouted again
"I remind you that only they can hear you."
"I hate you." Spider-Man pouted. "You're a bad AI."
"Talk to Mr. Stark when this over."
The Spider-Sense filled Spider-Man's head again and he leapt over another robot, ramming a powerful fits down onto it. He then saw his friends were still there.
"Didn't I tell you guys to run for it?!"
"Wait, please!" The voice butted in. "There has been a misunderstanding. Everyone calm down and I shall explain all. Alpha, send the security back."
"Send them back?" Alpha asked. "But..?"
"Now."
The robot did as he had been asked, glaring at the web-head the whole time.
"How did YOU find this place?" Alpha ordered said web-head, who then tensed and pointed to something.
"Uh...Wait, what's that?!"
When they turned around, our web-slinging hero was almost out of sight; having used the seconds of distractions to swing away. Alpha pulled him back into the room, albeit having to put much more effort into him than he had had with Zack.
"Knew it couldn't work..." The superhero frowned under his mask, tuning out Zack's laughter as Zordon began to explain what was going ...
SMPR
"Any questions?" the face in the wall asked a few minutes later.
Spider-Man's mind was all over the place; if half of what he had heard was to be believed, this Zordon, as he was called, was a prehistoric being granting these Ranger powers to the five teens who he had found becoming involved with his life. A being that had lead a group not unlike the Avengers against threats that, going by his wording, made most of the super-villains and threats earth had faced thus far seem like ants...including a rouge teammate of his.
This whole situation had got INCREDIBLY more complicated; not only did these five know that Spider-Man was in Angel Grove, but know he knew even more about what had been going on; the energy from the cave had been coming from this ship and by extension, the 'Power Grid', which had chosen his five friends.
With that in mind, he and Kimberly would have to change their project's name...
Returning to the complexities; Zordon and his powers were older than earth itself and while he seemed to be non-hostile, the revelation of him being leader of a sort of 'Space Avengers' did not bode well for the young hero; what would Mr. Stark say or do about this? What COULD he do? Would the Power Rangers be hunted down like Cap's group had been; forced to reveal their identities in order to function and do their duty
Yes, upon looking back, Spider-Man had grown to realize that there had been some benefits that Captain America had preached. Besides, he started out as a vigilante...
Most of the new Rangers were still trying to process all the information that had been dumped onto them, but one did raise his hand:
"Are we more like Iron Man or Spider-man?" Billy asked
"Right here, please remember." Spider-Man noted, making Billy chuckle weakly at the realization he had been ignoring his hero.
"So much for a fan..." Zack teased, only to get slapped lightly by Trini.
"Oh, we didn't forget about you." Alpha assured the interloper, glaring at him. "You were not supposed to be here at all; rangers only! You're no ranger, so I'll have to ask you..."
"He's a superhero!" Billy quickly added, and under his mask, Spider-Man smiled in gratitude for his friend standing up for him.
And at Billy's outburst, the benefactor of the while affair got an idea: One that went against the code of the Power Rangers, but for this case, he'd be willing to bend the rule.
"Alpha?" Zordon said with a smile. "I think we just fond a teacher for our new rangers."
"A teacher?" The robot asked, confused. "But that's your role, isn't it?"
"Perhaps." The face mused. "But someone closer to their age and they at least acknowledge could be a better choice."
He then turned to the surprise arrival.
"Spider-Man, is it?" He asked. "Would you be willing to aid these new rangers in how to control their abilities?"
"Wait, what makes his qualified?" Zack asked, missing the looks Kimberly and Trini shot him.
"Dude, he just took down a slew of ronots and fights crime on a daily basis." Trini reminded him.
The hero in question paid their conversation no mind; his head jumbled up in thoughts, concerns and ideas running through the web-head's mind: Him, a teacher? The thought had actually occurred to him as a career path once he graduated, but he had not really thought that much about it, due to all the drama in his already hectic life.
It would be nice to have a little group under his guidance...plus it could help in making him a better hero.
His mind made up, our hero detached himself from the ceiling and back-flipped to the ground, landing perfectly beside Alpha.
"Well, I AM a superhero..." Spider-Man mused, smiling under his mask. "So I guess I could teach the newbies a trick or two. Just don't expect me to go easy on anyone."
Jason, Zack and Trini smirked at the comment, ready for the worst. Billy and Kimberly? Not so much.
It was safe to say that this was the beginning of something extraordinary.
To be continued...
Read and review, would ye kindly?
Once again, life has delayed me from updating this and my otehr stories; thankfully no family drama this time; simply a loss of technology for a few days.
Also, we now have a CO-WRITER: Daverocks5941. Please give them support and encouragement and rest assured myself and justimtaylor will still be involved with production of the story.
Have a good one, keep warm and safe.