The gymnasium at Aaronsdale Air Force base had seen its far share of action over the years but day three of basic Ranger training could've set a record for 'most one sided match' in Air Force history. On one side of the mats stood Taylor, dressed in black leggings and a yellow vest top. On the other side were Stevie, Ricky and Rachel dressed in training gear to match their Ranger colours. The rookie Rangers were nursing various aches and pains from today and their previous training sessions, "That's it, I'm done," Stevie groaned, rubbing her arm, "I thought interval training was bad but this is brutal."
"The Vyglass won't take it easy on you," Taylor replied, quietly enjoying herself. She grabbed four Shinai's from a nearby rack, throwing three to the rookies whilst keeping one for herself, "Tell you what, if one of you can land a hit, we'll call it a day," she added whilst spinning the stick between her fingers.
Stevie didn't need a second invitation, lunging towards Taylor with an exaggerated cry. The Major easily blocked the blue ranger's attacks before using the teen's forward momentum to catch her off balance. Taylor stepped aside and thwacked Stevie around the back of her legs, "Damnit, not again," she cried.
"I keep telling you, don't overcommit," the former yellow ranger stated, "you'll lose your balance just like that." Stevie grumbled but stepped off the mat, "Who's next," Taylor said towards Rachel and Ricky with a confident smirk.
Neither the white or yellow ranger moved for a moment until Rachel said, "You go left, I'm going right." The pair switched sides and attempted to attack their trainer simultaneously.
Taylor was quietly impressed with the team work displayed by the pair, her initial assessment had them labelled as the ones needing the most training. She didn't know what to expect from Rachel and spent the last few evenings catching up with her videos. Taylor freely admitted they weren't her thing, she had maintained the same hairstyle and look for the last twenty years and wasn't going to change any time soon. She really didn't understand the point of TikTok either but kept that opinion to herself at the risk of being labelled an 'old woman' by her team.
Amongst the fashion tips and random dancing videos, Taylor discovered that the internet personality loved to keep in shape. Rachel wasn't trained in any discipline but she was surprisingly athletic with decent cardio fitness. With some hard work, it wouldn't take long for her to get to the required level.
Ricky on the other hand was struggling, his technique was poor and his cardio fitness was appalling. For their warm up Taylor asked the rookies to complete a three mile run. As a track runner, Stevie naturally won followed surprisingly closely by Rachel. Ricky on the other hand barely managed one mile before giving up, completely out of breath. The Avian Waves might grant the Rangers enhanced strength and durability but they couldn't work miracles.
Taylor had to admit, the pair were giving her a good fight. The added power provided by the Avian Waves forced her back on a couple of occasions. Power couldn't make up for sloppy technique though, there were a couple of opportunities where she could've finished the fight but that would only serve to damage the rookies morale.
Her overconfidence was nearly her undoing though, Ricky swung his shinai but pulled his swing at the last second. Taylor was committed to defending the blow and the feint caught her by surprise which allowed Rachel to swipe Taylor's shinai clean out her hands. For a moment the rookie Rangers were surprised and didn't move, "Excellent," Taylor cheered them on, "now, finish me off."
Rachel swung again but Taylor sidestepped, catching the white ranger's arm and Judo throwing her to the ground. That just left Ricky along with Taylor, "Come on Ricky, just give it your best," she pleaded with her successor after spotting his nervousness to take a shot. With no attack forthcoming, Taylor sighed, dropped to the ground and swept out his leg to end the training match.
She returned to the edge of the mat and bowed in respect, "You've improved since yesterday," she tried to find a positive.
"Yeah it took us twice as long to get knocked on our ass today," Ricky groaned, "and where's Mark? Why isn't he training with us today?"
"He's still trying to persuade Harley to join," Taylor replied, "plus he's been with Project Jet Force from the beginning, you just need a bit of additional training to catch up."
"Just say we suck, we'd understand," Rachel grumbled whilst checking her watch, "look, I need to get to work, I'm already behind on my upload schedule and the sponsors are complaining." She looked firmly at Ricky and pointed, "Don't say a word, alright," she added firmly.
"I wasn't going to," Ricky replied defensively, although after Rachel beat him in yesterday's unarmed combat training match, he wasn't going to say anything to antagonise the white ranger again.
At that moment Taylor spotted Jazz walking in, laptop in hand, "Fine, let's call it a day, same time again tomorrow." The three Rangers barely left the room before Taylor let out a loud groan, "I don't remember being this bad when I started training."
Jazz grabbed a yellow towel and threw it to Taylor, "I dunno, they've definitely improved since their first battle, Rome wasn't built in a day and all that," the Scot stated.
"You should join us," Taylor began, "it would do you some good to get away from your computer."
"Oh no," Jazz chuckled, "I am strictly technical support, can't get hurt sitting behind a screen."
"You might not be a Ranger but you're part of the team and the Vyglass know that," Taylor replied firmly, "even some basic self defence would help if you find yourself under attack." Jazz sighed, the pair had this discussion more than once since the first attack, "I assume you've found something on our AWOL black ranger?" she asked to change the subject.
"It's what I didn't find that's most interesting," Jazz began, "there's no records matching Harley's description in this state so I expanded the search nationally and found this."
She turned the screen around but Taylor was confused, "I don't understand, it says no records found," the Major stated.
"Exactly, no school records, no bank account, not even a parking ticket," Jazz exclaimed, "James Harley doesn't exist."
Taylor groaned, "An alias, fantastic," she rubbed the towel forcefully across her face, "there's very few reasons to use a fake name, most likely he's trying to evade the authorities."
"Took the words right out my mouth Boss," Jazz smiled, "I ran his face through the national database and got multiple hits, all under different names." Half a dozen records popped up showing various Police mug shots of Harley, "there's arrest warrants from the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. Three counts of theft, one for assault, another for forgery and finally obstruction of justice. That's just the hits I've gotten so far."
"This just gets better," Taylor shook her head, "making his way across the country, picking up felony charges in the process."
"This is the most interesting thing I found," Jazz brought up another file, "this file's been sealed by the FBI," the image associated with the file was a younger looking Harley.
"The FBI?" Taylor asked, "can you unseal the file?"
Jazz snorted with laughter, "Of course, it's the FBI, give me a challenge." Taylor shot her a glare, "Oh you meant can I unseal it legally?" Taylor nodded, "No, I would have to hack their system which I would like to make clear, I have never done in my life."
"Sure, one criminal is enough for this team," Taylor sighed, "I'll talk to the General, see what we can do." She let out another quiet groan, what had Harley done that warranted the FBI to seal his file?
Somewhere in the South Side of Aaronsdale, Mark was perched on the bonnet of his car outside a 7/11 store. He didn't have to wait long to spot his target, "You again," Harley groaned when he saw the red ranger, "you stalking me or something?"
"Just checking in," Mark replied, "since you don't answer your communicator, this is the only wait to get your attention."
"Maybe I just don't want to talk to you," Harley opened his package of cigarettes, pulling one out and placing it into his mouth, "I got places to me, so if you don't mind you're blocking in my ride," he pointed at the black Mustang just behind Mark.
"Good taste," Mark nodded in appreciation of the muscle car, "must've been hard to afford without a stable job."
Harley shook his head and snorted with laughter, "Accusing me of theft," he pointed his cigarette at the red ranger, "you really need to work on your sales pitch buddy."
"What's it going to take?" Mark asked in exasperation, "name your price and I'll take to Taylor and General Harkness."
A sly grin flashed across Harley's face, "You serious?" Mark nodded and the black ranger rubbed his hands together, "you might regret that in a minute."
Before he could list his demands, a tall figure in a black hoodie bumped into Harley from behind, "Hey watch it," he called out but the man didn't acknowledge the collision, "some people, anyway as I was saying." He paused again, tapping the black pocket of his jeans, "Son of a bitch, he's lifted my wallet."
"Really, he barely touched you," Mark frowned.
"Well it hasn't disappeared into thin air," Harley shot back, "hey you, get back here," he called to the thief and set off in pursuit at full pace. Without a seconds hesitation, Mark joined his fellow ranger in the chase.
The thief led them on a chase through the back streets of the city, scaling a fence with just a couple of steps, "Damn guy thinks he's a ninja or something," Harley grunted as he used his enhanced agility to jump the fence.
The two rangers and the thief entered the industrial district, heading towards a water treatment plant, "This isn't getting us far," Mark began, "you keep chasing, I'll try and cut him off," he peeled off from the chase and headed to the right, disappearing up a flight of stairs.
Even with his enhanced speed, Harley wasn't really catching the thief. His chase was slowed down further when the man fired a few laser bolts towards the roof, raining debris onto the black ranger, "Where'd that bastard get a blaster from?" he grumbled, "thought they were military issue only."
The thief grabbed a loose pole and attempted to vault to an upper level. He wasn't expecting Mark to jump down from the upper level, tackling him in mid-air and sending them both crashing into some discarded rubbish. The tackle hurt Mark though and he rolled away holding his shoulder. When Harley caught up, he immediately set his sights on the thief, "Not so quick now are you," he chuckled, "think you have something of mine."
The thief was rolling on the floor but Harley misjudged how vulnerable he was. The thief grabbed Harley arm and dragged him to the ground before leaping into an upright position. Harley aimed a series of punches but the thief kept dodging out the way, "stand still whilst I hit you," the black ranger shouted.
Unsurprisingly, the thief didn't comply with Harley's request and counterattacked with strikes of his own. Harley blocked a few but a spinning kick staggered him before a strong punch to the gut doubled him over, "Hey," Mark slowly dragged himself to his feet, "don't forget about me." He rolled his shoulder and jumped into the fight.
Mark frowned he blocked attacks from the thief, he was far too talent in martial arts to be a simple criminal. As he ducked under a roundhouse kick, he wondered if this was a Vyglass attack. Mid-crouch, he spotted a wallet sticking out from the thief's hoodie. He quickly grabbed it and elbowed him in the gut, "This doesn't belong to you," he said to the thief. To his surprise, his attacker took a couple of steps back before running away into the shadows.
Harley was slowly getting back to his feet just as Mark handed over his wallet. The black ranger mumbled something, "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that," the red ranger cupped a hand to his ear dramatically.
"I said thank you, alright," Harley grunted, "don't make me say it again." He flicked through his wallet, pausing on a old piece of newspaper which he quickly tucked back in, "Does this mean you'll stop stalking me now."
"Depends, are you part of this team now?" Mark replied, offering his hand to the black ranger. Before Harley could accept, something wrapped around his arm, "Not again," he cried as he was dragged across ground.
Their attacker was green bodied, vaguely in the form of an upright elephant, complete with large green ears. It's most unique feature was a faucet for a nose along with a much larger faucet on top of it's head. It had different coloured eyes, one red and one blue, "The hell is this thing?" Harley cried.
As Mark struggled against the monster's hose-like appendages, several laser bolts struck the monster and it released it's grip on Mark. The beast ran towards the nearest pipe, squeezing it's body and disappearing into the water system. The rangers turned around, expecting to see their fellow rangers and their rescuers but to their surprise, it was the thief. Lowering his large silver, black and gold weapon, he grunted to the pair, "Don't stand there looking at me, get after it."
Reluctantly, the pair slowly walked away and once they were out of sight, the thief crouched down, "I'm getting too old for this," he moaned whilst holding his stomach. He pulled out his phone and held it to his ear, "Taylor it's Eric, this is the last favour I'm doing for you," he hissed.
"Dare I ask what went wrong?" Taylor replied dryly.
"Oh nothing, only one of your boys spearing me into oblivion," Eric groaned, "I'll be amazed if I haven't broken a rib."
"Quit being a baby, you're still breathing aren't you?" Eric grumbled under his breath, "did our plan work?"
Eric snorted, "Our plan, this was all your idea," he slowly stood up, "but yes, I think it worked but there was a problem, a monster showed up."
The vague sound of sirens could be heard through the phone, "Right on cue," Taylor said, "I'll dispatch the other rangers, don't be getting any ideas now."
Eric looked down at the Quantum Morpher on his wrist, "Don't worry, I'll stick to observation only."
"Uh uh, I'll believe that when I see it," Taylor didn't sound convinced, "meet me at my place tonight, it'll be good to catch up." Eric accepted the offer and hung up the phone call, giving his ribs another rub, he set off back towards the city.