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Twice Chosen
"OK," Thresh said, wincing as we sat around the main chamber, demorphed and rubbing our new collection of bruises. "That… could have gone better, right?"
"That's putting it mildly," Liv muttered as she flexed her shoulders. "Seriously, that guy nearly broke my arm when he grabbed me like that; how could he do all that with one coin… and how could he even transform in the first place?"
"Wouldn't he just-?" Rue began before her eyes widened. "But if you all needed to come together as a team to morph here…"
"How could some new guy just pick up Rita's coin and go green like that in the last couple of days on his own?" Liv nodded in approval at Rue before looking over at Zordon. "And on that topic, if being a team is such a big part of being a Ranger, how could Rita summon her armour on her own?"
"Her own corruption allowed her to morph by drawing on her own love of the power she possessed as a Ranger," Zordon replied with a grim tone to his voice.
"You mean… instead of drawing on the bond with the team, she drew on her own obsession with the Power Coin itself?"
"Pretty much," Alpha said. "We should probably assume a similar situation applies for the new guy; he's receiving some kind of external boost, but he still needed the right emotional kick to tap the power in the first place."
"External boost?" Peeta looked at the robot in shock. "As in… something's helping him? Something… not from Earth?"
"How else do you justify someone else from this planet acquiring the Green Coin and delivering such a serious beating to you all on his first attempt?" Zordon looked at Peeta in a pointed manner, made all the more intense by the size of his head. "Even with Alpha and I to guide you, it still took days for you to achieve the necessary unity to morph; no person native to this world could simply pick up the sixth coin and hold his own against you all on their first outing without assistance."
"Does that also explain why that dragon did so much damage to the rest of us?" Glimmer asked, shaking her head at the memory. "Seriously, that thing nearly shot down my zord and I'm still getting used to controlling that thing after all those training sessions…"
"Indeed," Zordon confirmed. "The ship's sensors can confirm that there is some form of remote energy being used to enhance the power of the Dragonzord and compensate for its pilot's inexperience, but I cannot trace that source at this time."
"You can't?" Liv looked anxiously at the large face. "I… take it that's not a good thing?"
"Anything capable of deflecting our analysis is also powerful enough to be a threat in its own right," Alpha observed grimly. "Add in how whatever we're looking for could still spare enough energy to basically restore the entire Green Ranger armour where Rita was restricted to what she was able to restore on her own, and we are definitely dealing with something ancient."
"Great," Glimmer groaned. "So now we have to deal with the evil green guy of unknown motive rather than the evil green girl who was just on a power trip, and we can probably assume he's going to get Thirteen on side soon enough."
"Thirteen?" Rue looked at Glimmer in surprise. "But I thought-?"
"They were working with us because we had the power; after that kind of display, do you really think that they'd work with us and our rules over the guy who's going after the Capitol on his own already?" Glimmer pointed out. "Trust me, I've trained with people like that back at the Academy; when you're making alliances, it's all about who's going to help you out most."
"And of course they're probably not going to be that fussed about this guy causing collateral damage given what they were doing earlier," Thresh muttered in exasperation. "Just when we think we've got one problem sorted, another one crops up…"
"We can still do this," Peeta said, looking over at me with a brief smile. "We just have to remember Haymitch's advice."
"That guy had advice?" Glimmer looked at Peeta in surprise.
"If we want to win, we have to get people to like you," Peeta observed with a shrug.
"…That works," the former One Tribute nodded.
"That works?" Liv looked at her in surprise.
"For most Tributes, the tricky part of the Games is maintaining resources, which means getting sponsors who'll send gifts because they want some specific Tribute to win," Glimmer explained. "Careers don't have to worry about that most of the time since we get the Cornucopia early on, but if other Tributes can get the attention of the relevant sponsors… well, things get interesting."
"Makes sense," Thresh nodded at Glimmer and Peeta before he turned to me. "So how do we do that in a non-Games sense?"
"Well…" I began, before something in the ship began to make a noise. "What's that?"
"Another transmission from District Thirteen to the Tyrannosaurus zord," Alpha said, walking over to a nearby console. "Just give me a moment to reroute it through the ship's networks- they'll still read our return transmission as coming from the zord rather than the ship and they won't be able to trace where it actually is- and…"
He fell silent and pointed at me in a manner I chose to interpret as a cue that I could talk.
"President Coin?" I said, keeping my tone polite even as I gave the rest of the team a warning glance that I hoped they'd interpret as a desire for them to stay silent.
"Hello," the leader of District Thirteen replied, her tone cool. "I apologise for getting back in touch so quickly, but my colleagues and I need to know where your green associate came from."
"We're… looking into that," I said, aware of how inadequate that was as any kind of explanation in this situation.
"So he isn't part of your team?"
"It's… a long story," I decided. "You need to be clear that his actions don't represent our intentions for Panem."
"Wherever he came from, see that you deal with him swiftly," President Coin said. "The sooner he's out of the picture, the better for all of us."
"All of us?" I repeated in surprise, even as the others looked around the room in a manner that made it clear this development was just as unexpected for them as it was for me. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you'd have liked the idea of someone else tearing through Peacekeepers for you?"
"Not when he's showing remarkably little interest in being discreet and selective about his targets," Coin clarified with a grim edge to her voice. "Whatever our feelings about the Capitol, we do want something to be intact afterwards; your green comrade was clearly-"
"He is not our comrade," I cut Coin off, wanting to be sure she understood that point in particular. "The situation is… complicated, but you need to understand that the Green Ranger is a renegade who we intend to deal with ourselves."
"That's good to know," Coin responded. "Of course, it also reinforces my point."
"If he's not with us you can't be sure he'll work with you either?"
"Quite," Coin confirmed. "Whatever my thoughts about your methods, you are at least willing to talk with us. Your green associate clearly has no loyalty to the Capitol, but if he has no loyalty to you either, he cannot be relied on."
"Thanks," I said, choosing to consider that observation at least a backhanded compliment even if Coin probably viewed it as a condemnation of our methods.
"Do you require any assistance?"
"You'll be informed if there's anything you can do, but for the moment make plans for a more coordinated attack against the Capitol once we've dealt with the Green Ranger ourselves," I said. "And remember; no collateral damage."
"Of course," Coin replied, an edge to her voice that made me feel as though I could genuinely see her cool smile even when I didn't know what she looked like yet. "Although-"
The transmission suddenly terminated as another alarm blared through the ship.
"What's that?" Liv asked.
"The Green Ranger has mounted a new attack," Zordon reported, his tone grim.
"And let me guess, we're not in any shape to go after him right now?" Thresh observed with a frustrated groan.
"Correct," Zordon looked down at us with a clearer sense of regret on his face. "The Tyrannosaurus and Pterodactyl zords are already undergoing repair, but if they were to engage the Dragonzord in battle at this time, they would suffer far more significant damage that we may not be able to repair."
"Didn't you talk about how you'd already fixed our zords when they were blown up by Rita in the first place?" Peeta indicated himself and Thresh.
"Over a period of several thousand years," Alpha pointed out. "Granted, that was while I was operating in a dormant state on low power, but we still only have so much power right now: I can't be sure how much energy I could devote to repairing your zords while keeping the others available."
"In other words, there's only so much damage any of our equipment can take at a time before it would become impossible for you to fix?" Liv asked.
"Which means that we're not in shape to take on this bastard right now…" Glimmer groaned bitterly.
"For the moment," Zordon said. "Alpha and I are working on restoring the ship to a working order that would allow us to assist you more effectively, but even once the zords are repaired, it will take time to reach that level."
"And facing an evil Ranger when we're already vulnerable won't help you do that, huh?" Glimmer groaned in frustration. "It's never easy, is it…"
"But maybe we can still do something about this mess," Liv put in, looking over at Glimmer. "You're sure that Finnick Odair would be willing to help us independent of District Thirteen?"
"He seemed… well, it's complicated, but I definitely got the impression things with him and Thirteen weren't that close even if he knew anything about them," Glimmer confirmed. "He didn't say anything to me outright at the time, but if I'm interpreting his actions the right way…"
"We can work with that," I said resolutely.
"And what about President Coin?" Peeta said.
"If it comes up, we'll just say that we had to focus on repairing our own equipment and putting together a plan to stop Green," I said. "Even if we're working with Coin, that doesn't mean she has to know everything we're doing right now; the priority right now is to ensure damage control for our reputation with people we can trust."
It felt strange to be thinking about people I hadn't actually met as people I could trust, but after going through the trauma of the Hunger Games, I already felt a certain connection with other Victors as people who would understand some of what we'd been through, even if I was already decided that we couldn't tell them who we were.
Even if the tales and rumours Glimmer had heard about what Finnick were an exaggeration, given his popularity with the Capitol, he had to know something that we could use to improve our own reputations right now…