Chapter Three
Flight from CRIME Island
Gordon Cherry, Rio Higueras, and Karen Miller waited at the foot of the mountain they knew to be CRIME headquarters, waiting as Benton Davies did his thing.
"So," Rio said, leaning back against a tree. "You think he's in yet."
"Oh, I'm sure he's already in," Gordon said.
"How long do you think before he gets himself caught?" Karen asked.
Gordon checked the time on the inside of his visor. "I'll give him about ten minutes."
"Really?" Karen said with a smirk. "I'd give him five."
"Loser buys dinner?"
"You're on."
Rio rolled his eyes. "Well, I think he's got at least twenty minutes, and if I'm right, the both of you have to pay for dinner for me and Yoselin."
Gordon and Karen glanced at each other. Karen shrugged. "Alright."
"It's on," Gordon agreed.
The trio had barely started timing when loud alarms started to blare from the mountain above. "Oh, what?" Gordon said. "Already?"
"Does that count for me?" Karen asked. "I'm closest."
They heard a sound, like something racing toward them through the trees. In a matter of seconds, the King of Clubs blew past them, running as fast as he could go.
"What—hey, Benton!" Karen called after him.
"No time. Must run now!" Benton shouted back.
The trio took off after him, matching his pace as small fighters started to scramble from the top of the mountain, racing down after them.
"Did you get it?" Gordon asked, catching up to Benton.
"Of course," the Green Ranger said, holding up the box he'd locked the Shine inside. "And they are not happy about it. Keep running."
The rangers raced down toward the shore. Gordon tapped the side of his helmet, calling up the Sky Ace. "This is Gordon," he said. "Be ready to meet us as soon as you can."
"Look out!" Rio shouted, grabbing him and pulling him to one side just as a bomb hit where he was standing. Two jets flew overhead, sweeping low and dropping their payload all around the rangers, sending Karen and Benton rolling down the hill. At the bottom, Gordon could see a horde of Crimers starting to climb, armed with weapons to try and stop them.
"Looks like we've got company, team," Gordon said. "Karen and I will handle the jets. Rio and Benton, you two are on crowd control."
"Yes, sir."
"Let's go!"
The planes curved around for another sweep. The Red and Pink Rangers leapt into the air, reaching their height in a single bound. Karen magnetized herself to one of the ships, pulling herself right to it, then proceeding to tear it apart with her razor-sharp Q-Blade.
Meanwhile, Gordon pointed his hand at the other fighter, charging up an atomic blast in its palm and firing right through the ship's hull, sending it crashing down to the jungle below. Down on the ground, Rio slammed his fists together, causing a thunder clap, and proceeding to take out his opponents one by one with devastating thunder punches to the face.
Benton watched his companion for a second, before smirking. "Let's speed this up a bit, shall we?"
He punched the ground with his fist, sending out a shockwave that left every Crimer floating in midair. He then pushed out with his hands and sent each and every last one of them flying backwards through the forest. He grinned at Rio, feeling proud. Rio crossed his arms and sniffed.
"Showoff."
Gordon and Karen landed beside them. "Let's go," Gordon said.
The team had barely run a few feet when four newcomers landed hard before them, blocking their way. They were big and metal, the leader looking just like the Devil Killer Gordon had faced almost a year before. In fact, they all seemed to have similar designs to those he'd fought before. The rangers skidded to a stop and backed up.
"Well, hello, Rangers," a familiar voice said.
A fifth figure dropped out of the sky behind the other four. Ivan Callahan rose to his feet, his clawed metal arm glinting in the sun. "I believe you've stolen something of mine," he said, extending his human hand. "Give it back now."
Gordon, Rio, and Karen formed a circle around Benton. "Keep it safe," Gordon whispered to the Green Ranger.
"Way ahead of you, Gordon," Benton replied, holding the box behind his back.
"Karen, Rio," Gordon ordered. "They don't get to Davies."
"Got it."
"Get them," Ivan ordered.
The Devil Machines surged forward, clashing with the Power Rangers. Karen grabbed hers with her magnetic powers, forcefully crushing it in on itself, despite its attempts to get away. Rio took up a boxer's stance, winding up an energized punch that blew a hole right through the chest of his. Gordon drew his bow, nailing both the Devil Killer and a second right in the chest with an arrow that then detonated with the force of a small contained atomic blast. In mere moments, all four were down.
"Come on, Ivan," Gordon said, standing over his with his foot on its chest. "I took out a dozen of these like they were nothing, back when it was just me. Now I have four. And the power source I assume you were intending to use to boost their power."
Ivan smiled and raised his hands. "Oh, no," he said. "I guess you've got me. I surrender."
The Rangers hesitated, looking at each other. That's when the robots at their feet started beeping loudly before suddenly bursting.
"Look out!" Gordon shouted.
The rangers found themselves suddenly enveloped in a thick cloud of white smoke. Gordon stumbled back, the smoke making his body feel strange. Weaker. Sluggish. His suit didn't seem to want to move the way he wanted it to. All around him, Rio, Karen, and Benton seemed to be struggling with the same problem, Karen falling to her knees and Rio struggling to move his arms. The smoke cleared, and Gordon saw Ivan still standing with his hands up.
"What," Gordon said, his throat not seeming to move properly, "what did you do to us?"
Ivan's smile widened. "Do you like it?" he asked.
Gordon tried to ball up his fist and throw a punch, but it felt like his suit was stabbing into him, making him cry out in pain and collapse.
"And so, the Rangers' greatest strength becomes their weakness," Ivan said, stepping up and kneeling before Gordon, grasping his wrist and pulling it toward him. He studied the morpher for a second before finding the power button, pressing it and reducing Gordon back to a simple human. "You see, I had an idea back when that virus infected your systems," he continued, undoing the straps and taking the morpher for himself. He then stood and crossed to Karen, doing the same.
"I allowed myself to be studied, so that my scientists could devise a new virus that would infect your enhancements and shut them down." He took off Rio's morpher in turn. "Your suits were designed to work in tandem with your enhancements, right? Meaning without them, they're just heavy armor."
He crossed to Benton. Benton forced himself to his knees and summoned up his remote, pressing it. Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Still nothing. His cyborg implants remained inactive.
Ivan knelt before him. "What's this," he said, yanking it from Benton's hand and studying the device. "Doctor Kuchar made you a remote? To turn your implants off and on? Fascinating."
He stashed the device in his robe, then deactivated Benton's suit. "Well," he said, as Benton's unmasked face sneered up at him. "You're new. Welcome to the team, I suppose. I'll be taking that."
He grasped the box in Benton's hand and forcibly removed it, shoving the Ranger to the ground. He tapped it open only to find a photograph of Benton mugging for the camera with his tongue out.
"What?"
He bent down and grabbed Benton by the back of his hair. "Where is it?" he demanded. "Where is the Shine?"
Benton grinned at him. "Wouldn't you like to know, Claw Boy."
Ivan snarled and slammed him back down to the ground. "Guards!" he shouted to the soldiers who had just arrived. "Lock them up in our dungeon, then scour the area. It has to be here somewhere."
Crimers surrounded the four rangers, locking them up in shackles, then leading them away. Benton flashed a grin at his three companions.
Meanwhile, on board the Sky Ace, Doctor Kuchar stood behind Princess as she flew and Yoselin as she manned the gunnery station. The airship raced over the ocean as Crime Island appeared on the horizon. Just as they were about to arrive though, the signals of the four rangers suddenly disappeared.
"What just happened?" Doctor Kuchar said, tapping the display.
Princess leaned over and checked the display. "I don't know, sir," she said.
Doctor Kuchar tapped on the comm systems before him. "Cherry, Davies, come in."
No answer.
Doctor Kuchar tried another one. "Miller, Higueras, where are you? Are you alright?"
Still nothing.
The trio waited in tense silence. Princess's knuckles turned white on her controls while Yoselin shifted restlessly, her eyes watching the display. Doctor Kuchar bit his lip and tapped another comm. "Agent Ten, come in. Are you there?"
After a few seconds, that comm crackled to life. "Yeah, I'm here, sir," Ten's voice said in a tense whisper.
"What's going on down there? We lost the Rangers' signals."
They heard the sound of Ten shuffling a bit, probably making sure she wasn't being overheard. "The Iron Claw hit them with some kind of gas. He said it deactivated their enhancements."
"Gas?" Doctor Kuchar said, his eyes growing wide.
"They've been captured and are being led away. I'm going to try to stay close to them. Circle back for now."
"Understood. Princess?"
"Yes, sir," Princess said, veering the airship around away from the island.
"I'll make contact when I know more," Ten said.
"Alright," Doctor Kuchar said. "Good luck down there."
The comm switched off, leaving the three crew members in stunned silence. "What do we do?" Yoselin asked, finally breaking it.
"I don't know," Doctor Kuchar said.