Lightspeed Teamwork
It was early in the morning when four of the six rangers found themselves outside the weapons lab door. They had just finished breakfast when a message from Captain Mitchell's personal assistant had arrived, demanding them to meet him here.
"Do you know why we are here?" Carter asked Gina, as they stood up against the wall.
Gina shrugged, "I have no idea. I asked Coulson, and he had no idea this meeting even existed."
"I thought Coulson was to help in training us?" Kelsey frowned as she leaned over Chad to get a better look at the redhead.
"So did he," Gina muttered in response.
They stopped walking as Dana arrived, she was looking up and down the line of rangers, "has anyone seen Joel?"
"No idea," answered Carter. "Sorry."
Dana gave him a look of disbelief, "Joel was out of our room early this morning," Chad told her. "We don't know where he's gone."
"Great," huffed Dana, resting her back against the wall in defeat.
Gina frowned, "Why are you so upset?"
"I am not upset. I am stressed," Dana admitted. "We were supposed to have everyone here for this meeting. Captain's orders."
"I am sure Joel will be here eventually," Gina tried to keep things positive but she can tell from the look on Dana's face that she would be easily defeated.
Carter snorted at that one, "Eventually."
"See," Dana threw her hands up into the air, "We have only known each other for a whole two days and Carter doesn't believe he will be here."
Kelsey was next to voice her opinion, "Well, yeah he does get distracted."
"Especially around girls," Chad added.
Gina laughed, "Oh yeah. I forgot about when he disappeared last night, and it turned out he was flirting with a girl."
"Have you tried contacting him?" Carter suggested to Dana.
Dana brought her morpher close to her lips and activated the line, "I will try now."
The four other rangers straightened up as they noticed Captain Mitchell and Coulson walk down the corridor towards them.
"You will enjoy this tour, Phil," said Captain Mitchell, "We even had input from your scientists."
Coulson smiled, "They're not my scientists more like the organisations."
"Why do you and Coulson keep on calling your agency the organisation?" Kelsey asked as she nudged Gina's arm to get her attention.
Gina sighed, "You try saying the full name every time. It's incredibly long winded."
"What is the full name?" Chad asked.
"Don't make me say it," she glared at the Blue Ranger, who gave her a look that said 'Please,' "Fine," she took a deep breath, "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."
Carter blinked, "Wow, have you tried shortening it?"
"Trust me," Gina snorted. "We are already on the campaign."
Dana was now beginning to get even more frustrated as Joel refused to respond to her call, "Joel," she yelled forcing open the link, "Where are you? You are supposed to be here for this meeting! Hurry up!"
"I will be there," Joel's frantic voice replied, "On my way, Green ranger out."
Gina and Kelsey rolled their eyes, "He is flirting with a girl again," said Gina.
"We shall proceed without Joel," Captain Mitchell informed them, causing the rangers to jump as they realised that he and Coulson were now listening and waling up to the stairs behind them.
Gina lingered to the back so she could speak with Coulson, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," said Coulson.
Captain Mitchell began the tour as they made it up the stairs, "This is the weapons lab," he announced, they stopped to see one of the lab technicians standing in front of them putting out a fire with some type of blaster that shot out of foam.
"Everything you will use to defeat the demons was designed, bult and tested right here," they walked through the room and came to a stop at the diver's entrance of the lab. The five rangers jumped as a diver swam up to the surface, sending a wave towards them that almost got them wet.
"Ah," smiled Captain Mitchell as he stopped laughing at them all, "I want you to meet the genius behind everything," he said as his landed at the woman who was now waiting for them, "From your rescue morphers to your newest weapons," walking towards her. The Rangers stood a few feet away in a line as Captain Mitchell stood next to her. "Rangers, this is Miss. Fairweather."
The woman in front of them smiled, her brown hair was tied neatly into a ponytail, and she wore a buttoned up white lab jacket over her clothes, "Welcome to LightSpeed," she began, the rangers nodded. "Diabolico will stop at nothing to destroy the city," she stepped towards them and walked down the line of Rangers. "It's my job to ensure that you stay one step ahead of him and his monsters."
"Vincent," she turned to a senior lab assistant who brought up the footage of a downstairs storage unit that held some of what they could make out anyway—Trains. "Which is why, Miss Fairweather walked up to the monitor and placed her hand underneath the screen, "We have developed this."
The rangers moved closer to get a better look, "These are your rail rescues."
"Trains?" Kelsey asked in disbelief.
"These are much more than trains I assure you," Miss. Fairweather smiled.
Gina raised her hand and waited until Miss. Fairweather called her name allowing her to speak, "I am sorry," she began, "but I only see five trains not six?"
"Well," Miss. Fairweather looked up to Captain Mitchell and Coulson for help.
Coulson tapped Gina's shoulder and she turned to face him, "We will talk about that later," he told her not wanting to cause a scene in front of the others.
Suddenly, without warning, the entire base began to shake, and the alarms blared. You could almost hear the sigh in Captain Mitchell's voice as he was passed a Bluetooth headset.
"Mitchell here," he said, "What is going on?"
They all moved to the nearest monitor to figure out what was happening and watched the giant molten rock that was in the middle of the city.
"An asteroid?" Cater asked out loud.
Miss. Fairweather shook her head. "It's transforming," they could only watch at this point as the rock changed into a large fiery demon.
"It's time to put the rail rescues to work," said Captain Mitchell as he turned to face them.
Chad shook his head, "The rail rescues? I'm not sure I'm ready."
"Don't worry," said Kelsey, "None of us are."
Gina folded her arms, "at least you get one..."
"They are programmed to assist you automatically, " said Miss. Fairweather placing a reassuring hand on Chad's shoulder. "You will be just fine."
Carter turned to face the rangers, "Come on let's go," and as if she was running on automatic. Gina ran after the rangers.
"I will go and stop her," sighed Coulson and ran after them just in time to see her standing in front of Joel who was holding a bouquet of flowers.
Gina raised her eyebrow, "Joel," she smiled. "You really shouldn't have."
"These aren't or you," Joel tried to laugh it off and quickly hid them behind his back as he saw Coulson and now Captain Mitchell walking up behind her.
Captain Mitchell raised his eyebrow, "Joel," he called out the green ranger's name, "Where have you been?
"Oh, this should be good," Gina folded her arms and grinded.
Joel thought about it for a moment. "Uh," he paused. "I was on a top-secret mission, so top secret. That not even you or Coulson knew about it."
"Yeah right," Gina snorted bursting into a fit of giggles as she brought out his left hand that had hidden the bouquet of flowers.
Captain Mitchell remained silent for a moment. "At the flower shop?" before Joel cold answer he shook his head, "You are just lucky there is no time for this right now," he pointed down the corridor. "Get going! Now!"
"Come on, " Coulson looked to Gina, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You can watch what they are up to in the lab with us."
Gina threw her head back, "Aw," she complained. "I really wanted a train."
"I know," Coulson replied.
"Hey," said Gina, "You never actually told me why I don't I get one?"
Coulson sighed, "Dr. Streiten thought it might be best whilst you are still in recovery," he explained. "When the test results come back all clear then we can talk."
"Damn it," she said in defeat and walked back inside the lab leaving Coulson and Captain Mitchell alone.
Captain Mitchell turned to Coulson, "should we tell the other rangers?"
"It's up to Gina if she wants to tell them," Coulson shook her head, "Not us..."
~0~
Captain Mitchell and Coulson walked back into the lab and stood next to Miss. Fairweather and Gina, "How is it going?"
"They just arrived in the train bay now sir," said Miss. Fairweather.
The four of them watched as the morphed rangers entered their own rail rescue and sat in the pilot seat. "This is amazing," the rangers voices came through the speakers.
"Train bay to surface," Captain Mitchell ordered one of the internal controllers of the train bay.
"Yes sir," the man nodded and began to program the command into the computer.
Gina watched with her smile getting wider as the train bay began to move upwards to the surface, "Wicked."
"Even I must admit that this is cool," smiled Coulson.
"And he really doesn't say that often," Gina told Captain Mitchell and Miss. Fairweather then she realised. "Not unless it's anything Captain America related.
Coulson nodded, "See," he said. "I say it more times than you think."
The entire room applauded as the train bay docked up at the surface and each ranger began to drive their corresponding trains to the destination.
"Well done Miss. Fairweather," said Coulson.
Captain Mitchell turned to Coulson, "It's not over yet, Phil."
They watched as the rangers pulled their trains to a stop, "We have arrived, Sir," announced Carter.
"Each Ranger to their own rescue Zords," said Captain Mitchell.
Gina looked to Captain Mitchell and Miss. Fairweather, "You didn't tell me the trains were Zords."
"What are Zords?" Coulson asked, slightly intrigued.
"Oh my god," she threw her head back in frustration, "Remind me to show you the ranger archive footage we found the other night later."
Captain Mitchell kept his eyes focused on the screen as the rangers reached the edge of the makeshift crater. Carter scanned the area, "There are people trapped in that elevator," the captain called.
"Let's go get them guys," said Carter. Chad and Joel began to help Carter by using their Zords to get past the fire into the building, but the Zords began to struggle to get past the lava.
Chad's voice came through the speakers, "the building is surrounded by Lava," he said, "We can't get near it."
"We've got to cool that lava down," Carter thought out loud. "Joel, do you think you can get in there."
Joel laughed, "are you kidding? With this thing I can go anywhere."
"It's too dangerous sir," Miss. Fairweather turned to the captain, "His aircraft doesn't have enough power alone."
Captain Mitchell looked up to the monitor, "Joel," he said. "Hold on. You've got to work together."
"I am sure I have enough power to do this alone," Joel replied.
"Negative Sir."
"Negative!"
Joel was clearly beginning to get frustrated, "Says who?"
"Says the expert who designed it," Captain Mitchell told him, "Who is standing right next to me. You need to combine your rescue Zords."
"I can do it alone," Joel told him, "But if it makes you happy..."
Coulson shook his head as he watched Joel, Carter and Chad begin to combine their Zords, "He doesn't understand teamwork yet, does he?"
"Nope," Gina folded her arms, the rangers successfully managed to get into the building and save the people trapped inside the elevator. It wasn't until Carter tried to get clear from the building that the creature tore it down and some of the rubble became stuck in the zord. "Carter," she cried out feeling horrible that she couldn't do anything to help him.
Miss. Fairweather turned to the captain, "Aero Rescue 3 sir," she calmly replied. "It can help."
"Joel, you're on it," the captain ordered.
Joel piped up, "but I've got a better idea..."
"Just obey the order," Miss. Fairweather had grabbed the captain's headset and yelled into it.
Gina blinked, "Remind me never to piss you off."
"Who was that?" Joel asked.
Gina motioned for the headset, deciding he wanted his ear to survive Captain Mitchell reluctantly passed the headset over to the purple ranger. "The woman who designed it," she answered. "Just do what she says, or I swear to god..."
"Okay, Okay," Joel gave in, "No need to get upset I'll do it."
Gina passed the headset back to the captain and noticed the look on Coulson's face, "He's annoying."
"They're forming the megazord," Miss. Fairweather nudged Gina, who turned to her attention back to the monitor to the Zords slowly combining.
Noticing what the rangers were doing the creature tried to attack, Coulson, Gina, Miss Fairweather and Captain Mitchell winced as Joel fired back allowing the megazord to fully combine.
"Yes," cheered Gina. "The megazord looks awesome!"
The base cheered as they watched the megazord take down the creature in one fell swoop.
Miss. Fairweather cheered, "Yes!"
"They did it," Gina said along with her and the two began to dance beside Coulson and the Captain.
Captain Mitchell turned to both women slightly amused, "I would just take this one, Bill," said Coulson patting his shoulder.
~0~
"The only way we are going to defeat the demons is if we work together as a team," said Carter as they walked back down the corridor. They had only just arrived back to see Gina waiting for them. "Like we did today," he was on his little 'teamwork' speech to Joel.
Joel gave in, "I know you're right," he looked to the flowers in his hand. Carter gave him a look of that was too easy while Chad was thinking 'yeah right.' "I'm going to concentrate. No more goofing around," he passed Chad the flowers.
"That's the spirit," Carter patted him on the shoulder.
The rest of the rangers praised Joel; Gina watched as his attention was drawn elsewhere whilst Carter told them they were unstoppable. "I think you've lost him," she patted Carter's shoulder when Joel began to walk down the corridor.
"Where is he going?" Carter asked in disbelief.
Dana shook her head as Joel ran back and grabbed the flowers out from Chad's hand. "That lasted 0.5 seconds."
"No," breathed Gina, as she watched Joel chase Miss. Fairweather down the corridor. "Did Joel buy the flowers for Miss. Fairweather?"
Chad looked down the corridor, "What?"
"Surely not," Dana shook her head.
"I've got to find out," Gina began to run down the corridor towards the lab.
Coulson who was walking out of the command centre stopped, "What's going on?"
"We think Joel has a crush on Miss. Fairweather," Gina called as she ran to the weapons lab.
"What?" Coulson blinked.
Dana stood by him, "It's a long story," she said. "Come on, we've got to see this..."
They made it to the weapons lab where they could see Miss. Fairweather and Joel talking to one another, everything seemed to be going okay until Joel said, "That is until some expert tried to tell me how to fly," he tsked.
"An expert," Miss. Fairweather turned her head slightly.
Coulson winced, "Oh Joel..."
Gina tried her best not to laugh, "maybe he needs to go on our how to flirt class at the academy."
"Some deletron designer tries to tell me how much power my Zord has," Joel continued.
Dana winced, "Joel, stop talking..."
"Too late for that," Carter noticed Miss. Fairweather's face.
"Like I need help from a computer geek," the rangers and Coulson did their best not to groan so loudly a Joel's comment.
Miss. Fairweather was mad, "Fine, the next time the sky-cowboy wants to overload his engines and explode," she turned to face him and began to walk towards him. "This computer geek will just let him," she thrusted the bouquet of flowers into his chest.
At this point the rangers and Coulson were too busy killing themselves laughing as they watched a flabbergasted Joel stand in the middle of the now empty office.
Chad and Carter began to imitate the sound of a helicopter falling out of the sky and crashing as he ran out of the office.
"She designed," Joel said.
Carter nodded, "Everything."
"From our Morphers," Dana showed the morpher on her wrist that she leant over Carter's shoulder. "To our Zords."
Joel lowered his head as they all patted his back.
