Chapter Twelve:
The Final Battle
Gordon raced fast across the landscape, covering dozens of miles in a minute, his enhanced legs further enhanced by his suit to make him move like a bullet. He kept running and running, passing cities and mountains and forests like they were nothing. On his visor, Doctor Kuchar kept him updated from inside the ranger tank.
"Hurry, Gordon," he said. "Captain Cage has arrived in the building and freed the other rangers, but they're no match for the Devil Machines."
"I'm almost there," Gordon said, the blip marking his destination growing brighter and brighter. "Would be nice to have those birdie rockets. Whatever happened to those?"
Doctor Kuchar looked a little self-conscious. "Your cybernetic enhancements made the suit too heavy and threw off the birdies' balance. It caused all kinds of problems in test runs. So we opted to remove them and add further enhancements to your speed until we could find a solution to the problem. Sorry."
Gordon sighed and shook his head. He reached the top of a mountain, coming to a stop as he saw the port city just below, the UN building right in the middle of it.
"There it is," he said.
"The building will be locked down from the outside," Doctor Kuchar said. "Captain Cage and the Devil Machines all came in through the ceiling. Think you can get up there."
Gordon smirked. "Yeah, I think I can manage it," he said. He got down into a crouch, tapping into his gymnastics experience, remembering the last event he'd participated in from that category. He took a breath, visualizing his goal. Then he took off running.
He ran down the mountain and through the streets of the city in no time flat, quickly reaching the steps of the UN building, crouching down, and launching himself high into the air, grabbing one of the many flagpoles sticking out of the building and flipping himself around it, launching himself even higher. He snagged a ledge a couple of levels up, using that to propel himself the rest of the way up and onto the roof.
Landing hard, Gordon stopped, getting his bearings. All around him, he could see several large holes, with screams and flashes of light emanating from the building below. Gordon took a breath and closed his eyes. "Time to be a hero," he said, running forward and diving inside.
Out in the foyer, still standing near the door, June watched as a new figure, also dressed in red but with a distinctly different design from the other four rangers, dropped into the middle of the room. Several Devil Machines came at him, but the newcomer proved more than a match for them, parrying every strike they threw at him, using his hand to blow holes right through them, and using arrows to strike them from afar. As June watched, the figure performed a complex flip to turn himself around, a flip she had seen at least a hundred times in her life.
"Gordon?" she said.
"No," Ivan's voice growled in her ear. "We can't let them ruin our plans now. Open the door, Miss Quayle. We have to be the ones to finish the battle."
June snapped back to reality. She turned back to the door, reaching out her hand instinctively and grabbing the handle. Through the door, she could see Ivan and his people standing behind it, waiting for her. She stopped. She looked back at the monitor, showing Gordon and the other rangers fighting hard and overwhelming their opponents. Deep in her heart, she found her courage.
She let go of the handle. "Open it yourself," she said, glaring at Ivan. She turned and walked away across the foyer.
Ivan sneered. "June!" he shouted. "Don't do this. You have twelve murders on your head. You'll go to prison for the rest of your life!"
"Then I'll go to prison," she replied, pulling out her earpiece and throwing it on the ground, stomping it, before carrying on, opening a door, and disappearing.
Ivan scowled. He clenched his fist, feeling the power of his upgrades course through him. "Black Cross," he shouted. "Today we rise in glory or die trying."
The Black Cross gave a cheer behind him. Ivan pulled his arm back and punched the door. Despite its heavy reinforcements, the wall crumpled with the force of the strike. He pulled his arm back and punched it again. Glass shattered. Bricks crumbled. One more hit should do the trick.
With one last punch, the entire wall crumbled, allowing the Black Cross entry to the hall. His soldiers cheered, racing ahead of him with their swords and guns raised in the air. Random people screamed as the mob trampled them underfoot, Ivan grabbing one confused security guard by the chest and throwing him across the room when he got in his way. They reached the door to the conference room, and Ivan punched those open as well, the heavy wooden doors flying off their hinges and sending splinters everywhere.
Inside, they could see the Power Rangers fighting what was left of his Devil Machines. Several of Ivan's soldiers hefted their prop weapons around him. "Your reign of terror ends here, Rangers!" he shouted, sticking to his rehearsed lines. "Ready! Fire!"
The soldiers fired off their fake weapons. Ivan waited, expecting at least the Devil Machines to fall down dead, but nothing happened.
"What?" he said. He turned to look at General Hallstrom, surrounded by guards in one corner of the room, holding the shattered remains of his controller and looking apologetic.
"It's over, Callahan," Joshua said, flying up to him. "We've figured out your whole scheme. And soon, the whole world will too."
Ivan gritted his teeth. "And how exactly do you plan to do that, Ranger? We—I mean, the central news network doesn't have anything besides the documents implicating you in all of this, Captain Cage."
"Not the central news," Gordon said, stepping up before Callahan. "Have you checked the Olympics lately?"
He nodded up at the technical booth above the conference room. The two techs inside looked a little confused before quickly tapping on their controls and switching over the large monitor on the wall to the channel covering the Olympics. The reporter Rico appeared on the screen, holding a microphone.
"Breaking news tonight, as we finally get word from Gordon Cherry, who has been radio silent since missing his final event two days ago. Gordon sent in a video to our station through an anonymous e-mail. We will play it for you now."
The screen changed to Gordon, sitting in front of a camera inside of the Young family's house. "This is Gordon Cherry. I am making this video to officially announce my retirement from competing in the Olympic games. You see, over the last few months, I have been scouted by the Ranger Project to become the leader of a new team of Power Rangers, and two days ago, I decided to accept the position. Unfortunately, my timing could have been better, as my acceptance coincided with certain recent events that resulted in my being embroiled in a conspiracy implicating the red ranger Joshua Cage in the recent robot attacks. I have since been involved in an ongoing investigation into the truth behind these claims."
The image on the screen changed again, this time showing all of the documents Katie had found on Joshua's morpher.
"These are documents detailing correspondence, dating back a year, between Ivan Callahan of the Black Cross and General Hallstrom of EAGLE's European branch. The documents involve a scheme to discredit the rangers and frame them for the attacks by the machines, culminating in an attack on the UN today that would have seen the Black Cross stepping in and replacing the rangers as the world's new heroes. The documents also include detailed blueprints of all of the robots seen so far, and the code includes a virus that would allow General Hallstrom to control the ranger suits remotely, also part of their attack on the UN, as well as a decoy document framing the rangers for it all. This was the document released to the public yesterday, thanks to General Hallstrom's involvement."
The screen then switched to a live feed from Gordon's helmet, showing Ivan Callahan and his soldiers. Ivan shifted uncomfortably.
"And this is the man responsible."
Ivan scowled at Gordon, but quickly regained his composure. "Convenient that you come forward with this now, ranger," he said. "And why should we believe that's the real document any more than the other?"
Gordon shrugged. "It's all there in the code," he said. "Anyone moderately tech-savvy can find the truth for themselves. The documents were leaked to the internet by an anonymous source the moment the news report went live."
"What?"
Gordon turned to the panel, all pressed up against the back wall and looking scared. "I also have a copy that I can share with all of you when we're done here."
The leader of the committee glanced at her fellows for a moment before nodding in understanding. Gordon turned back to Ivan. "You're done, Callahan."
"I'd like to add my own testimony to that as well," a new voice said.
Gordon looked up to see June stepping out of the crowd, pulling off a blonde wig and glasses.
"June?"
June looked up at Gordon, locking eyes with him for a moment. She stepped up to him and spoke into his visor. "My name is June Quayle. I am the former long-term girlfriend and manager of Gordon Cherry. I have been acting as a spy for Ivan Callahan for much of the last year, ever since Gordon was chosen as a candidate for the Ranger Project. I gave Callahan the location of the secret ranger base, prompting the attack in Silver City two days ago. I also betrayed Joshua Cage and Doctor Daniel Kuchar to Callahan, allowing them to be captured and unavailable for comment for the last day and a half. I also know the names of several Black Cross spies connected to the Olympic games and various sponsors and news sources who have reached out to me as middle men for Callahan's orders. I would like to come forward with all of them and offer myself up to the authorities."
"June?" Gordon repeated.
June met Gordon's eyes through the visor. He could see tears in hers, and she smiled a sad smile.
Behind her, Ivan growled. He knew he'd been defeated. He looked at the gun in his hand. "If I am to go down," he said. "If nothing else, I can at least protect their identities."
He raised the gun and shot June in the head.
The crowd screamed again. Gordon stared in shock, frozen, as his girlfriend fell to the ground. Ivan raised his voice. "If we are to be villains," he shouted. "Then we are villains. Black Cross, kill everyone in this room."
The soldiers behind him let out a shout and surged forward. Joshua and his team sprang into action, fighting them off as the civilians ran for the exits. Gordon remained in the middle of them, staring down at June's body as the crowd trampled over her. A slight movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye, and he looked up to see Ivan Callahan using his enhanced body to leap up above the crowd, grabbing onto railings and fixture to climb up to the holes in the ceiling, leaving his troops behind and saving his own skin. A surge of rage burst inside of Gordon.
"Ivan!" he roared. He launched himself up with his own powerful legs, climbing the room after him.
Ivan reached the top and was about to pull himself up through one of the holes when Gordon reached him, grabbed him by the back of his fancy collar and pulled him back down, throwing him to the floor far below and piledriving him into the concrete foundations. Ivan rolled over and punched Gordon back, just hard enough to knock Gordon back and scramble out from underneath him.
Gordon rubbed his chest and got up after him. "Ivan!" he shouted, drawing an arrow and firing. The arrow flew at Ivan, but he sensed it coming and turned on a dime, snagging it out of the air, snapping it, and tossing it aside. Gordon barreled into him at top speed. Ivan took the hit, pushing back against him, his own enhancements letting him hold his own just enough to maintain his ground.
"Gordon," Doctor Kuchar shouted in Gordon's ear. "I'm uploading my antidote to your suit. Inject him with it, and it should strip him of his enhancements."
A blip lit up on Gordon's visor. He glanced down at it for a second, just long enough for Ivan to pull his arm back and aim a punch at Gordon's face, striking him hard enough to crack his visor and knock him to the ground. Gordon hit the floor, looking up to see Ivan straddling him, holding him down and punching him again and again.
"I will not let the Black Cross's legacy to be ground into the dirt!" he shouted, beating him over and over.
Gordon covered his face as the antidote's download completed. "Go, do it now," Doctor Kuchar shouted the moment it beeped. Gordon drew his bow, switching it to blade mode and catching Ivan in the arm just as he was coming in for another swing, slicing the arm clean off and sending it flying.
Ivan let out a scream of pain, stumbling backwards. Gordon got back to his feet, drawing an arrow and plunging it into his neck, channeling the antidote through it. Ivan turned pale, his face slumping and his muscles going slack, the metallic sheen on his face melting away. The new Fuhrer slumped back against the ground, his body now weak and frail.
Gordon rose up above him, seething with rage. "You killed her," he said, clenching his fist. He pulled back for a punch, aiming for the kill. Ivan closed his eyes.
Then Gordon stopped. His fist hung an inch from Ivan's face, refusing to budge any further. He pushed himself to do it. He wanted to beat him to a pulp, to bash his face in. He pushed harder and harder, but he couldn't make himself go all the way. It just wasn't who he was. Finally, he gave up, dropping his fist as his shoulders slumped.
He looked to his left, seeing that one single Devil Machine was still in operation, attacking Joshua. Gordon's rage and anger and frustration built inside him, and he channeled the atomic energy in his body to his palms, firing off a blast at the monster and blowing it to smithereens. He kept firing until there was nothing left in him.
Finally, he dropped his hands, his palms glowing. He took a breath got to his feet. "Ivan Callahan," he said, grabbing his frail opponent by the shoulder and forcing him to his feet. "You're under arrest. For . . . all of it."
Several guards hurried forward, cuffing Ivan's single remaining arm and taking him into custody. Gordon looked around the room. All the remaining Black Cross had been subdued by the other rangers, and the Devil Machines had been destroyed. By the looks of it, most of the civilians had survived.
Gordon's eyes fell on June's body, still laying exactly where she had fallen. He moved to go to her when Joshua stopped him.
"Gordon," he said, his voice solemn. "You're still live."
Gordon stared at him for a second before remembering the news broadcast. He looked up at the large screen to see it displaying exactly what he saw, creating a neverending series of screens going inward at the moment. Gordon realized that that meant the entire world had just seen everything he had seen, everything he had done. He quickly reached up and switched it off, the screen reverting back to Rico at the Olympic oval, who now looked pale and had to take a second to realize he was back on camera.
Now, without a million people watching, Gordon let himself go to his girlfriend's body. The wound to her head was really bad, and he knew there was no saving her. He carefully pulled her up into his arms, his body shaking as he looked into her face, the shadow of her last smile still lingering on her face.
"June?" he said, tears streaming down his face. "June, please. Please come back to me. I can't—"
The room all around him fell deathly silent. He felt Joshua kneel down beside him, the pink ranger holding everyone else back for the moment. All that mattered to Gordon in that moment was just him and June.
Several days later, Gordon sat in a crowded conference hall, dressed up in a nice suit before a crowd of journalists and reporters. The medals he had won that year hung around his neck, and he wore a honeysuckle corsage at his chest in June's memory. In one section of the crowd before him, his fellow competitors sat together, each wearing a matching corsage. The Ranger Project team sat around Gordon, all dressed in their finest uniforms, including Dayton the yellow ranger, his arm in a sling, as Joshua stood at the mike, addressing the crowd.
"As of today," Joshua said. "The Ranger Project will be cutting ties with EAGLE, and will no longer be considered a military agency, but will instead act as peacekeepers, safeguarding our current time of peace. As for my team and I, we will be stepping back from service and going into semi-retirement, acting only in a mentorship role to Mr. Cherry and his future team as they come together. We appreciate our time as rangers, serving you all, and we thank you all for your continued support of us."
He let that announcement sit on the crowd for a moment. "And now, your new ranger, my friend, Gordon Cherry, will address you. Gordon?"
Gordon looked up from the video Katie had been showing him, of Taran and her parents thanking him and wishing him luck today. He smiled and thanked her, before getting up and crossing to the stand. As he passed Josh, his friend grasped him by the shoulder. "The future is your responsibility now," he said.
"I know," Gordon said. "I'll keep it safe. You can count on me."
Josh smiled. "I know I can." He let go of Gordon's shoulder and took his place between Dayton and Katie, while Gordon stepped up to the stand.
Gordon swallowed, looking out at the sea of cameras. Somehow, despite his years of experience with interviews, he felt more nervous now than he had ever felt before. "Hello, everyone," he said. "My name is Gordon Cherry, and I am the new red ranger. Or rather," he glanced at Doctor Kuchar at the end of the line of seats behind him, "to differentiate myself from the currently existing red ranger, I will be going by a code name. I am the Ace of Spades."