DATES, PART 2.
1:30 PM
Barry and Shayera tried their best to shoot Mister Freeze to prevent him from using his machine with a devastating ice blast. Stopping him was much worse than other opponents with elemental weapons, as Mister Freeze could not only throw freeze bombs, something the two Rangers had to dodge at every turn if they didn't want to end up as ice sculptures; but his machine could also create snowstorms around him to blind them both, so Shayera couldn't shoot him, and Barry would lose his way when he tried to take him down; not even grenades were of any use.
They continued for about two minutes, until a heat vision shot hit Mister Freeze, interrupting the storm he was creating.
"I definitely got a stuffed animal for this" Said Kal, who had just arrived, already transformed, and had left Lois one building back to avoid the icy projectiles from attacking her. "Shayera , Barry, are you okay?" He asked, regaining his seriousness.
"No fair, Kal. We already had everything under control, I'm surprised you're so bad at interrupting us" Barry said sarcastically, receiving bored looks from both of them. "Thanks for helping us."
"Not without me" John said as he approached while continuing to fly in his jetpack. He had left Mari a few blocks away from the area, so she was safe for now. The jetpack disappeared and then he took out his Morpher. "Justice League, activate" He said and transformed. With his suit on, he created a hammer and hit the machine with it, causing damage.
"Well done, John" Kal said. "Now he's ruined the fun" He added.
"As if they were going to defeat me so easily" Said Mister. Freeze pressed some buttons on his forearm, and a cloud of snow was launched towards them. Kal attacked again with his heat vision, but the snow turned out to be made of small, explosive bullets, so sparks flew, and they had to retreat.
"John, distract him" Kal said. "Barry, create whirlpools. Shayera, go protect the people" He ordered.
Everyone nodded and got to work. John created airplanes, but Mister Freeze always froze everything he created. Barry used this to create whirlpools with his hands, so the villain couldn't use his explosive snow against them, and it ended up exploding in his face. He then threw grenades into the air, forcing everyone to dodge them.
Shayera hated being the one to save civilians who were fleeing the combat zone. She thought Barry should do it, but she couldn't prioritize what she wanted to do.
Kal took advantage of Freeze not looking and shot him again with his heat vision, knocking him out and knocking him down for a moment. John used this to pull out a giant hammer and slammed it into the villain, Barry joined in with three quick hits, and Shayera, having evacuated the civilians, shot the villain.
"Time to use detention mode, buddies" Kal said.
"No. The ice age is inevitable" said Mister Freeze pressing some buttons on his forearm, and now, it wasn't him who was moving, but his machine, which had stood up, and then transformed into a giant yellow and pink robot.
"I hate it when they have a giant robot" Barry said.
"Too bad, now you have to stop him" Freeze said as he started running.
The Rangers wanted to follow Freeze, but the robot pointed his giant gun at them and fired at them, but they all quickly dodged. Freeze used this to run, but was hit by Mari, who lunged at him, and seemed to have Diana's strength.
"Does your wife do that?" Kal asked.
"Yes, she has the power to summon animal powers" John said.
Freeze's giant robot was about to shoot at them, but was attacked by Diana's jet.
"J'onn, is Diana back or what?" Kal asked.
"No, I'm remote-controlled. Without her here, you can't make the arrow. And the jets are already on their way," J'onn said.
"But Freeze is going to escape. You can't fly two jets at once" Barry said.
At that moment, Mari ran very fast, almost like Barry, and caught up with the Rangers.
"I'm facing Freeze, but I need your suit" Mari said.
"No, I won't let you face Freeze" John said.
Shayera saw that Freeze tried to run again, so she shot him several times.
"John, make up your mind quickly, I won't be able to stop him from running away forever" Shayera said.
"Oh, deactivate powers" John said, and his suit disappeared. Then he gave his Morpher to Mari. "Stay safe" he advised.
"Same to you, I don't know how to fly those things, but I know it's dangerous without your suit" Mari said before giving her husband a quick kiss on the lips and leaving.
"Okay, let's get on the jets" John said.
"I was going to say that" Kal said before jumping into his jet. The others jumped into their respective jets, and John created additional armor for himself now that he didn't have his suit. "All right, now let's stop this robot" He said.
XXX
00:00
Supreme headquarters of the Justice League on planet Earth.
Commander Wayne spent his time sitting in the station's mess hall. For the first time since leaving the base, he had a moment alone to meditate. His mind wandered in different directions. The first was to stop Killer Frost, who was hiding on the base, waiting to attack him, but he wondered what she was waiting for or where she could be. On the other side, he thought about Diana. He had shown weakness when she told him he would one day have to decide between love or duty, and he had also refused to answer whether he had liked kissing her or not.
His relationship with Diana was more complicated than he thought. His relationship with the other Rangers was murky from time to time, but an understanding was always reached, while Diana was the one who always fought him over everything, and she sometimes managed to defeat him, and while that was happening, he couldn't help but feel attracted to her, because she had a very strong will, but being by her side made him feel good, except when she challenged him in front of everyone. That was the biggest problem, if he listened to love, they would always be at risk of being discovered and would be mostly in danger. Diana was stronger than him, but she was not invincible, like all the other Rangers.
It was impossible to know whether having a romantic relationship with her would be good or bad. It was a risk that could cost them both everything, especially since he'd convinced her mother not to betray her so she could remain a Power Ranger, and that could be lost with what he was contemplating.
He couldn't continue thinking about that, his senses sharp, and was interrupted by an icy blast from behind. He dodged the shot by ducking and pulling the table forward for cover. The shots kept coming. The commander knew it was Killer Frost, and that if she was in the base's ventilation system, she could leave at any moment. He kicked the table to prevent Frost from leaving, and as it turned out, she emerged from the duct and materialized in her physical form.
"Snow. You're lucky Darkseid freed you" The commander said.
"Yes, I was lucky, but you won't be lucky. Once I've frozen you, you'll be sent to Darkseid and he'll make you suffer, and I'll be able to conquer Zone C with my ice powers after I eliminate your other Rangers" Frost said making ice sculptures in the shape of Power Rangers and then destroy them with their hands.
"If you think you can defeat my Rangers without breaking a sweat, you are sorely mistaken" Said the commander taking out his Morpher, believing that Frost would not notice, but she did, and shot him again, so he had to avoid the shot again and had to activate the Morpher. " Justice League, activate " He said and transformed into the Dark Ranger. "Dark Sword" He said taking his trusty sword out of its sheath.
"I don't think so, I'm sure I will, after I freeze you" She said moving her hands and a breeze emerged from the ground and lifted the Dark Ranger for a second and then he was hit by ice crystals created by Frost while he was in the air. "And you are almost defeated in less time than I expected from you" She said before blowing a lot of air towards him, sending him to the wall of the dining room. She also created ice crystals that quickly immobilized him. "See? I told you" Frost said.
"Yes, it's true, and at the same time it's not" Said the Dark Ranger and took out a capsule that he had on his forearm and a small explosion occurred that freed him from the ice, making him fall to the ground, and he threw another grenade at Frost, but a concussion one, which exploded on her and disoriented her for a few seconds.
The Dark Ranger quickly stood up and used his Morpher to call Diana.
"Prince, answer" He said.
"Keep asking her, she's already controlled" Frost said, taking advantage of that moment and created two walls of ice that crushed the Ranger and fell to the ground. Frost created another block of ice and crushed the Dark Ranger with it. "I don't understand how you're a Ranger again, you never had powers and I was always more skilled than you" She said, keeping her distance from him, she had already learned that after the times she was arrested.
The Dark Ranger couldn't believe this. Diana had always insisted that she was difficult to defeat, and then she was immobilized by Frost. It wouldn't be long before she and he were sent to Darkseid and his planet Apokolips, and in the end, he had always been right, they weren't invincible.
She was about to freeze him in a block of ice, but she got kicked in the face, a kick so hard it threw her against the wall. She got up and saw Diana standing there, transformed into a Power Ranger.
"Don't underestimate him, especially me" Diana said, drawing her sword.
"It's not possible! How did you even break free from my ice prison?" Frost asked, creating multiple ice spikes and pointing them at Diana.
"You don't have the strength to stop me. Ice isn't a problem for me" Diana said, pointing her sword at him.
"Oh, it will be… now!" Frost said before moving his hands forward, causing all the spikes to fly towards the Blue Ranger.
Diana smiled to herself, so she started spinning her sword at full speed, which shattered all the spikes Frost created.
"How were you able to stop the attack?" Frost asked.
"Well, ironically, I've already faced someone who had a similar attack, and if the Amazons do anything, it's improve our combat every day" Diana said.
"Not for long" Frost said before moving his hands again to create the air blast again.
This made Diana jump, as it had done to the Dark Ranger earlier, but she used this to her advantage and lunged at Frost with her sword drawn. Frost saw this coming and blocked the blow with a layer of ice, but she didn't count on her being so strong that the blow she received broke the shield, sending her stumbling back.
"If you think that can defeat me, you know nothing about me" She said, creating ice daggers and launching herself at Diana.
The fight was tougher than Diana had thought. Frost was very skilled with ice daggers, and every time she hit her, Diana would retreat, and the villain would create more ice walls and spikes. Diana fell several times, but always got up and kept fighting. In one of her last moves, Frost attacked with all the strength she had, but Diana dodged her, grabbed her arm, and threw her against the wall. Frost crashed and fell to the ground, but she got up again and was about to crash two ice walls into her. Diana turned around and hit one, but she couldn't handle the next one, but the Dark Ranger could, who was already ready to fight again.
"Your trick doesn't work twice" the Dark Ranger said, standing next to Diana.
"Try again" Frost said, raising her hands again, ready to crush them with another block of ice, but it didn't work. Diana jumped on the Dark Ranger's shoulder and slashed at the block of ice, while the Dark Ranger rolled on the ground and threw three bombs at Frost, who created a wall to protect herself, but the bombs were too strong, so she ended up taking damage.
"It's time, cadet" The Dark Ranger said. "You first."
Diana nodded and launched herself at the ice villain.
"Blue Ranger Slash" Diana said as she leaped up and swung her sword at Frost. The villain took the blow and retreated further. The Dark Ranger attacked next.
"Dark Sword, master cut" Said the Dark Ranger preparing his sword, so he ran towards Frost and gave him the cut.
Frost would have turned into snow, but she was still dazed, so she still couldn't think clearly, so she took the full blow of the Dark Sword , and gave a small explosion before falling.
"This can't be it. Darkseid entrusted me with this, and I couldn't finish you off" He said, waiting for the Rangers to come closer so he could breathe and freeze them once they took off their suits.
"Well, he must have learned from our last battle that Earth is off limits to him, Snow. And I hope you enjoy your new prison" The Dark Ranger said, approaching her.
"Your ridiculous handcuffs won't trap me for long" Frost said, hoping he would approach her with this phrase.
"Good thing he wasn't talking about that prison!" Diana shouted before pressing the button on her Morpher and making Frost disappear, and a very small card with Frost inside it appeared.
"What kind of prison is this?! Get me out of here!" Frost shouted as he stuck to the wall of the card, but he couldn't break it.
Dark Ranger complained.
"She had to pay for freezing me" Diana said, a little annoyed that I knew she was complaining.
"That's what I mean. You can't keep acting like that if you're a Power Ranger. That could get you into trouble with someone else in the future" He said without taking off his suit. He didn't want her to see him getting emotional. Diana was about to explode with anger again, but the Dark Ranger wasn't finished. "But good work. You're definitely stronger than she thought" He said before leaving her.
"And where are you going, Commander?" Diana asked, astonished.
"I need to inform Supreme Commander Lane that Frost is now locked in the new detention mode" He said without turning to look at her.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be" Diana thought as she walked away.
XXX
2:00 PM
The battle had begun. The Rangers piloted the jets against Mister Freeze's robot, who they had to prevent from rapidly shooting at buildings, which would freeze innocent people or potentially leave them trapped in the ice.
Meanwhile, Mari was about to take the battle against Freeze, but she needed to transform with her husband's Morpher first.
"I don't understand. They beat me as a team, and with one less Ranger, who's probably out for a reason. You only attacked me once out of pure luck. You can't beat me now" Freeze said, aiming his ice blaster.
"You don't know what I'm capable of" Mari said. "Justice League, activate" She said, transforming into the Green Ranger as she jumped, spun a few times, and landed on the ground, putting on her helmet. "For today, I am Mari Stewart, the Green Ranger of Zone C" She said, striking her pose and introducing herself.
"Well, I hope you enjoy the freezing temperatures" Freeze said before shooting her and freezing her. He was about to walk away and let the Rangers fight his robot, but Mari managed to free herself from the ice. "What?" He asked, surprised.
"Polar bear strength. And now, I need speed" Mari said, running faster than anyone expected and punching Mister hard. Freeze in all directions.
"Wow, John. I didn't know your wife could be as strong or fast as us" Kal said, quite amazed.
"Don't you think we should stop the robot before we talk about my wife's abilities?" John asked, rather annoyed.
"It's true, we have to stop the robot" Shayera added.
"Hey, it was just a comment, Kally is still trying to stop the robot from freezing the city or us" Barry said.
"John, try to cut off the robot's guns. Shayera, shoot the robot's chest. Barry, go for the legs" Kal ordered. John's complaint made him think of a quick plan of attack.
"Understood" The three Rangers said in unison. Therefore, the Rangers moved as Kal ordered, although they continued to see this strange change in Kal, now he was more authoritative.
Meanwhile, Mari had lost her speed, and now had the ferocity of a lion, with which she attacked all parts of Mister with her claws. Freeze, who tried to stop her with his suit, but it was no use. It wasn't until she destroyed his electronic forearm, which controlled all his attacks and the robot, that he thought he should bring out his last toy.
"Oh, well, I hope this stops you" Said Mister Freeze took out five grenades and threw them into the air, and those grenades transformed into five robots.
"Elephant Charge" Mari said, changing her attack, so she ran towards the robots and knocked them all down.
However, the robots were resilient and got back up, and the stampede was of no use again, and in fact, they even hit Mari, and began to overpower her.
A short distance away, Lois watched as Mari was being pummeled by the robots, but she wasn't defeated, at least not yet, and Freeze wanted to make sure they stopped her so he could escape. Lois was a journalist, but she didn't want to just stand idly by, especially when the other Rangers were weakening the robot. So, she ran toward Mari.
"Throw me a Morpher gun!" Lois yelled. Mari no doubt turned to look at the person who had yelled at her, and was surprised to find it was a girl with brown hair and winter clothes running toward her, but something was strange. How did she know about the gun the morpher was carrying?
"I won't give you anything!" Mari was suspicious.
"Give it to me or he'll escape!" Lois replied. Mari analyzed the situation, and the robots were very strong, and she couldn't let Freeze escape, so she would have to trust this stranger.
"Okay, here!" Mari shouted, taking out her Morpher and pressing the appropriate button, and the gun materialized. Then, she grabbed the gun and threw it to Lois, who caught it with her right hand and shot Mister Freeze, momentarily stopping him, then helped Mari by shooting two robots that were attacking Mari.
Mari was surprised by the strange woman's amazing aim, but she was grateful that she had given her enough time to have the strength of a gorilla and smash the robots' heads and bodies into pieces.
"Now, I'll take care of Freeze" Mari said, touching her chest where her necklace was and holding it for a few seconds. "Power of all animals" She said, then setting the ice villain as her target, so she ran towards him like a tiger and pounced on him, attacking him with tiger scratches, ostrich kicks, gorilla punches, and pounced on him like a bear.
When the attack was over, Mister Freeze couldn't hold on any longer, he threw sparks and fell before letting out another huge explosion.
"We did it!" Lois said.
"I've missed the action for a long time" Mari said before using her Morpher on Mister Freeze. "I hope you like this prison, Mister Freeze" He said before activating detention mode. Freeze disappeared, and then the small card appeared, showing Freeze would be on for the time being before being sent to another prison.
"I'll be out soon to get revenge on you Rangers" Freeze said as Mari held him.
"Deactivate powers" She said and his suit disappeared, returning to her normal appearance.
"Who are you?" Lois asked. She would have asked what happened to the villain, but Kal had told her a while ago about the new detention mode, and how they hadn't been able to use it yet because there weren't any villains attacking the city yet.
"I'm Mari, former Power Ranger and wife of the Green Ranger of Zone C, John Stewart" She replied saying that with a smile.
"It can't be. Are you John's wife?" Lois asked, surprised.
"Do you know him?" Mari asked, also surprised.
"I'm the girlfriend of the Red Ranger from Zone C, Kal -El" Lois replied, some of her surprise gone.
"Oh, so you're the girl the Red Ranger went to see" Mari said, her surprise already gone.
They were going to talk longer, but the Morpher rang.
"Let's execute the arrow. Go somewhere else" Shayera said to the other two women.
"Let's go. The robot is going to explode" Mari said, and Lois followed her away from the robot.
The Rangers and J'onn formed the arrow and passed through the robot, causing the final damage, causing the robot to fall and explode.
"We did it" Kal said.
"And thanks to Mari" John said.
"And Lois" Kal said. He was still surprised. He knew Lois had a strong character, but he never thought she had such good aim with a gun, similar to Shayera.
"I think I just saw who wears the pants in this relationship" Barry said.
"Yeah, the same thing will happen to you when you have a girlfriend, Barry" Shayera said, making the others laugh as well.
At that moment, the Morpher rang, everyone's.
"I don't want to interrupt you, but right now, we need to melt the ice the explosions created and unfreeze the people" J'onn said.
Everyone sighed, they still had work to do.
XXX
3:00 PM
Base of Zone C
"Rangers, good job stopping Mister Freeze" J'onn said to the four Rangers standing in front of him. "And also a big thank you to you two, Lois Lane and Mari Stewart. If it weren't for you, Freeze would have gotten away, and he would have come back sometime" He said to the two women standing next to the Rangers, smiling, although he was nervous about the situation.
"No problem, Scientist J'onn. In fact, I've missed getting back into action for a long time" Mari said, smiling back.
"And, while I hope this doesn't happen again, it felt good to help a Ranger for a day" Lois said, smiling.
"The bad thing is Kally couldn't have been that Ranger you helped" Barry said, but John elbowed him. "Oh, I didn't mean that as a bad thing" He defended himself.
"Anyway, don't say it," John said.
"Yes, speaking of which. I hope you're okay with us keeping any information about you and what happened today from getting out" J'onn said, his nervousness starting to show.
"What? Lois helped Mari, it would be an insult to avoid mentioning her" Kal said.
"Kal, if my father finds out about this, he's going to make you suffer or worse" Lois said, somewhat annoyed because her boyfriend had forgotten who her father was for now.
"And who is your father?" Mari asked.
"This is Lois Lane, daughter of Supreme Commander Lane" J'onn replied.
"It can't be. The Supreme Commander's daughter lives in Zone C and is dating the Red Ranger?" Mari asked, quite surprised. I don't think any Ranger would have expected this.
"Yeah. At first, I didn't want to date a Ranger, but Kal is way more amazing than you think" Lois said.
"So that's why you have such good aim" Mari said.
"Yes. I never wanted to be part of the league, but my father trained me with weapons from the age of 14, until I came to Zone C to pursue a career in journalism. The longest four years of my life" Lois said, somewhat annoyed at the memory of her father's horrible classes.
"Well, be thankful for that training, Lois. It ended up serving you well today" Shayera said, now even more frustrated. It turned out Kal 's girlfriend had excellent weapons skills, similar to hers. At least she wasn't a Ranger, voluntarily, but that wasn't it. It seemed everyone matched their skills at some point.
"Yeah. That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen a woman do" Kal said.
"That's enough. So, Miss Lane and Mrs. Stewart, can we just say that no one is going to mention any of this?" J'onn asked.
"I won't mention anything, and you won't mention anything" Lois said.
"I won't mention anything, and I hope my husband won't be punished if Supreme Commander Lane finds out about her relationship with the Red Ranger" Mari said, looking at Lois.
"If it makes you feel any better, our commander told me that if he ever found out, he would kill him, he would kill me, and then our commander would kill me" Kal said, somewhat nervously, as he remembered that episode in great detail.
"Well, at least that's something" Mari said. "But I hope nothing bad comes to your attention if he finds out" She said. In the end, she found that Red Ranger very nice, as did the other three.
"Seeing as how everything is already concluded, then I think you can go," J'onn said .
"Thank you" The six said at the same time, all surprised by the coordination, but they quickly left.
"And I hope the commander doesn't notice that Kal broke another door" J'onn thought to himself.
"What I said was true, Lois. I've never seen a girl do something so cool" Kal sai , taking Lois's hand.
"Shoot?" Lois asked, somewhat surprised by what Kal was saying.
"Yes. Only Shayera had done it, but you doing it was extraordinary" Kal replied.
"Thanks. I'm flattered, Kal, but don't get used to it" Lois said. She didn't want to repeat any of this for a long time.
"We agree on that. I wish our date hadn't been interrupted" He said.
"It got weirder than usual, but I think it's turning out pretty well" Lois said. "But like you said, I hope it doesn't happen again anytime soo," Lois said.
"I think I'll walk you back to your apartment, if the door has been fixed" Kal said, a little nervous about what he did earlier.
"Did you break another door?" Shayera asked.
"Yes, and you better not say anything, if you don't want Wayne to make Kal suffer again" Lois said.
"You guys sure have a habit of keeping secrets from your commanders" Mari said.
"Wayne has a lot of secrets too" Kal said, still annoyed by what he never wants to tell them.
"Too many" Barry said.
"At least he's shared a little more with us in the last few months" Shayera said.
"You shouldn't say that about the commander. If he wants to keep his private life, that's his decision" John said.
"I repeat, and I'll modify it. You have a habit of keeping secrets, and so does the commander," Mari said. "Well, I think you should go back to your own business while my husband escorts me to my apartment" She added.
"It was good meeting you, Mari" Kal said.
"Me too" Barry said.
"Me too" Shayera said. Although she would have liked to fight alongside Mari, to change the custom a bit.
"And take good care of your husband. I don't think his gift of creating things with his mind will always be of use to him, especially when you have the ability to summon animal powers" Lois said.
"I have that very much in mind" Mari said.
"Well, Kally and Johnny will take their wives to their respective homes, and I'm going to relax" Barry said before leaving.
"If he's going to relax, I think he'd like to walk around town without anything bad happening, so I'll walk them to the door" Shayera said.
XXX
The next day
Supreme headquarters of the Justice League on planet Earth.
10:00
"Good work, Commander Wayne and Ranger Prince," Supreme Commander Lane said, standing in front of the two people in the briefing room. "With Frost defeated, she's now been sent to another space prison to prevent Darkseid from trying to free her again, and where she'll only be able to use her ice powers to make snow, only one gram per hour" He told them.
"Then the mission is complete, Supreme Commander" Commander Wayne said.
"Yes, technically yes. However, remember that this could be just the beginning. According to what you said, Frost said Darkseid hired her to take you down. I wouldn't be surprised if he attacked again soon after. Therefore, once you leave, I will send out an alert to all bases around the world notifying them that Darkseid will be back soon, and in full force" Supreme Commander Lane said.
"I had a feeling about that, especially with yesterday's fight with Frost. It's best for everyone to stay alert, but I think he'll come for us first, since we were the ones who sent him back to his planet" Commander Wayne said.
"That makes it pretty obvious" Diana said in her mind. She wanted to talk, but she didn't want to cause more trouble.
"Understood, Wayne. With the job done, and to prevent something like this from happening, all bases will incorporate security systems into their ventilation systems. Thank you for your input, Ranger Prince. You've made a valuable contribution to the war against Darkseid" He thanked Diana, standing in front of her.
Diana was surprised, first the commander thanked her, and now, the Supreme Commander thanked her too.
"It was nothing, Supreme Commander. Although it wasn't pleasant being frozen in a block of ice for so long" Diana complained.
"Be thankful you're out of it, and I hope she doesn't complain anymore" the supreme commander said before heading for the door. "Your mission here is over. Pack up and return to your base when you're ready" He said, leaving the room.
"Let's go to the room and get our things" The commander ordered Diana very curtly and headed for the door. Diana followed him.
XXX
12:00
Aboard her ship, Diana sat in the seat she'd been in before, but now she was paying more attention to the trip than to the commander, who was in the control cabin and hadn't left it. She'd been there for ten minutes, so this no longer interested her. If he was going to be distant with her, she would accept it; it was his decision, although she felt somewhat sad that he didn't want her.
However, the commander left the cabin and came in and sat in his chair, in front of her.
"Thank you for saving me from Snow, Princess" Commander Wayne said.
"I wasn't going to let her destroy you, and she deserved to pay for freezing me" Diana said, this time, she wasn't looking him in the eyes.
"But I'm not invincible, Diana, neither are you" He said, trying to get her to look at him.
"I know that. I've beaten you before" She said. She wanted to talk about Darkseid and how he'd almost defeated them all, but that would just make him keep insisting on the mission.
"That's what he's shown me. At some point, we can lose, but we can't lose the system we've created, or the whole thing could collapse" He said, standing up and walking toward her. Diana noticed this, but chose not to look at him yet.
"So this is how this is decided" Diana said, not caring about the commander's reaction.
"Stand up, Princess" He said. Diana didn't want to, but he was using the nickname he called her when they were alone, so she stood and looked at the commander. She hadn't expected him to take her by the head and kiss her on the lips. At first, the surprise was too much, but then she kissed him back. They continued like that for a full minute, until he pulled away.
"If this is going to happen, Diana, then we have to set some rules" He said, catching his breath.
"Rules? What do you mean?" Diana asked, this was bothering her.
"Diana, if we're going to have a relationship, we can't expose it. What I said was true. If they find out, we can't be Rangers anymore, we'd have to leave everything behind. I can't stop being the commander with Darkseid returning, and we can't lose you too" He said, keeping his gaze dry and emotionless, at least on his face, because Diana saw something new, saw something different in his eyes, saw vulnerability, and some fear again.
She thought about this for a few moments. He was right, and she hated that he was right. This was a delicate situation, but she wasn't going to let it keep her from being on the team, especially with Darkseid coming to Earth at any moment. And if she was going to have a relationship with him, even if it was a secret one, she could do it, because it seemed she'd gotten what she wanted.
"What rules would we have?" Diana asked, though she was unsure of what he might say.
"Rule number one: we would only go on a date when I say so. With a war against Darkseid , it's nearly impossible to have an uninterrupted date, and the other cadets might find out" He said without hesitation.
"Don't you think they might be offended to know I would keep another secret from them?" Diana asked, knowing she would be violating her friends' trust again.
"If they find out about this, I'll take the blame mostly on myself, but not now. If they find out, they'll be asking you for favors to change my mind about something, or they'll use you against me to get something in my favor, something they would have undoubtedly done with Zatanna. This is what I meant by saying the system would collapse if they found out about this" He replied, still without hesitation.
Diana gritted her teeth. She wanted to argue further, but she knew her friends would have done that to Zatanna, too, even if she wasn't his girlfriend.
"Okay. What other rule?" She asked grumpily.
"Rule two: If we meet in the conference room, keep it short. We can't arouse any more suspicion" He said.
"That seems acceptable" Diana said, her bad mood fading a little.
"Rule three: Don't you dare use this to get me to assign you any mission you want, or I'll keep punishing you like I did before" He said, bringing his face closer to hers, but because he was serious.
"I won't do that, nor was I going to do it" Dhe said, trying to deny it.
"You were always nagging me to assign you all the missions you wanted. Are you seriously telling me you're not going to do that?" He asked, now smiling.
"Even so, I'll keep chasing you for mission assignments" Diana said. She didn't want to lose this battle against him so easily.
"Yes, but I will still punish you if you do it" He said.
"Well, good luck with that" Diana said, smiling.
"I'm going back to the cockpit now. We should be close to the base, and even though I kissed you, I don't want to go too fast" he said, heading into the cockpit and closing the door. And by going too fast, he meant he didn't want to spend the whole trip kissing her.
Diana continued smiling and went to her seat, beginning to see planet Earth growing larger as they continued walking. "I can't wait for a date," Diana said in her mind.
XXX
Base of Zone C.
3:00 PM
The Rangers, J'onn and the entire base personnel went to the hangar to greet the commander and Diana. The ship arrived and parked, creating a bit of a breeze that ruffled some of the team members' hair, but everything was normal. The commander exited first, followed by Diana, both wearing their uniforms neatly arranged, and there was no sign of activity in each other's mouths.
"Well done, cadets and staff. You have welcomed your commander. Now you may return to your daily duties" The commander said, looking around the staff, then turned to the Ranegrs and J'onn. "Cadets and J'onn, come with me" He ordered.
The Rangers and J'onn followed him to the briefing room. There, the commander ordered them to form a straight line.
"J'onn , the mission report" Commander Wayne said, in front of the Rangers .
"Yes, Commander. During the time you and Ranger Prince were away, Mister Freeze attacked the city, but the four Rangers were able to do it, although I had to help them by handling Diana's jet due to her absence" J'onn replied, using his electronic board. This made the commander get closer to his Rangers and look at them very closely.
"Are you sure nothing happened, cadets?" The commander asked everyone.
"I'm sure nothing happened" John said, feeling guilty for lying to the commander, but he didn't want to get punished for having to leave the base because his wife had come.
"Nothing out of the ordinary happened" Barry said, nodding his head several times.
Shayera said without moving her head.
The commander went towards Kal.
"Are you sure nothing happened, Cadet El?" the commander asked.
"Sure. Nothing happened, and we were fine" Kal said, nodding. The commander just raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips a little, and Kal couldn't resist. "I can't fight it. Once she left, I planned a date with Lois and went with her, but I quickly went to help Barry and Shayera, who were committed to the mission. And John's wife came, and he went with her to go on a date, too" He confessed very quickly.
"Well done. You were honest, and that's what counts" Commander Wayne said. "I already knew that, by the way" He added, causing everyone, even J'onn, to gasp in surprise.
"No way. Did you really know?" Kal asked.
"I'm telling you, nothing happens at this base without me noticing. And I had to make sure of that when, on the way back from headquarters, I watched all the recordings from Zone C to make sure nothing bad had happened, and I deleted the recordings that showed Lois shooting at the robots" The commander replied, walking in front of them.
Now Diana understood why he didn't spend much time with her on the return trip.
"I was going to give you all a terrible punishment for keeping this secret, and for thinking I would never find out, but since the cadet confessed, I will be gentle this time" Said the commander, going to sit in his chair.
The Rangers knew they were all in trouble.
XXX
The next day
12:00
Kal was sitting in the commander's chair; he'd been there since seven in the morning, and he couldn't move. Barry and Shayera had even brought his breakfast to the conference room. At that moment, John came in, again with a toothbrush, this time not Kal's , and started cleaning the floor.
"Now I can say that this was your fault" John said, without looking at him.
"You can't blame me. He would have punished us all if no one had said anything" Kal said, not looking at John either.
"Couldn't you give us some kind of signal or something to get us talking too?" John asked, sticking to the ground.
"You two wouldn't have talked, and it seems you didn't want to talk about your wife either" He replied, without looking at him.
John grumbled, but preferred to think about how Kal was suffering from his punishment. "Well, at least he punished you by making you do what you hate the most" He said.
"Yes, he did, but at least because I told the truth, he gave me something good" Kal said.
"Are you serious? What did he give you?" John asked. There was no way Kal could have gotten any benefit.
"If I do this job effectively for the next two weeks, Wayne will give me a day off, and I'll be able to go out with Lois again, before having to continue this punishment for two more weeks" He said, now looking at him and showing her big smile.
"Of course, the one who ratted us out got away with it. I still have to clean this room and J'onn's lab with this brush" John said before continuing to clean.
"And Barry and Shayera have to pick up trash in the city park for three days, but he doesn't use speed or the punishment increases. And not to mention J'onn has to spend a week in his lab, literally sleeping there. I don't understand how we sometimes get paid for what you do, Kal" John said as he continued cleaning.
At that moment, Kal came to his senses and stood up from his chair, placing his hand on Wayne's shoulder. "I'm sorry, John. I know I shouldn't have done this, but Wayne already knew, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I know that doesn't excuse it, but I'm sorry I did this to you" Kal said, his face somewhat sad.
John sighed. "You were right after all. I can't believe I was a coward this time and didn't tell the commander about my date with Mari" John said.
"Well, we better promise not to repeat that if we don't want Wayne to give us another punishment like this" Kal said.
"That's a good promise" John said. At that moment, he noticed the absence of one of his companions. "And where's Diana?" He asked. "We haven't seen her since ten this morning" He added.
"That's right. He's not here. Wayne probably gave him the day off for his special mission. She's probably wandering around town enjoying her freedom" Kal said .
"That wouldn't be unusual. But I'm surprised they didn't get into a fight during their mission, though I'm glad" John said before continuing to clean.
"True. It's surprising Diana didn't hit him" Kal said. "Well, time to get back to work" He said, returning to his chair.
XXX
As Kal and John talked in the briefing room, Diana couldn't believe what she was doing. She was in the commander's chambers for the first time in her life, sitting in a chair with a glass of water in her hand, which was resting on a table. Commander Wayne's room had a table with two chairs, a bed, a bathroom, a small mirror on one wall, a large screen on another wall, and a refrigerator.
Diana couldn't help but be surprised to be in this room, but what surprised her most was when she found a note next to her after returning from breakfast, telling her to go upstairs, to the room on the far left. She left her room, making sure no one saw her, took the elevator with the code on the note, reached the top floor, and went to the room the note indicated. The commander was the one who opened the door for her. He stepped aside, and she quickly entered.
Once she entered, she was surprised to see a bottle of water and two glasses on the table. He held out a chair for her, and she sat down. The commander told her this was their first date, because a special mission at the League headquarters wasn't a date. They'd been talking for a while, and the date was almost over, so they couldn't raise suspicions among their colleagues.
"So, would you say your mother punished you excessively?" He asked, trying to be funny, but his face remained stoic. Despite this, Diana still saw something warm in his eyes, something she was finally seeing more often, at least for the time being, because she knew it would have to wait for the next appointment, and she also learned a little more about him, but not much; that would still have to wait.
"Of course. I wanted to train with my sisters, but my mother just wanted me to stay away from the redhead. Grounding me to my room doing nothing after she caught me training with Artemis was a terrible thing. At least she let her train me for a year after, with Artemis's help" Diana said, hating how overprotective her mother was when she was a child, but now, she couldn't help but miss her when she talked about her again, despite how horrible she had been the last time she saw her, but they had been talking about each other's past experiences, even the commander had to talk about what his life had been like as an only child, being the one his parents always looked for anything, like taking him to fun places, or punishing him whenever he did something wrong.
"We were lucky Artemis helped convince your mother. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here" He said, his face a little happier.
"And I think I'm lucky you convinced my mom not to tell anyone about my status so I could stay here" Diana said, leaning a little closer to him. She thought she might kiss him again, but stopped. Yes, she had feelings for him, but she knew this date was just a prelude; it was best to take it slow. Besides, a date was a victory.
The commander also thought of her, and how this date was ending, and although he wanted to continue, the city could be in danger at any moment, so he got up from his chair.
"I think it's time to go, but you go first. We can't leave at the same time, or we might be linked" He said as he stood up.
Diana sighed, but she also stood up from her chair. She had agreed to this, so she couldn't refuse.
"Well, until our next date" Diana said, heading for the door.
"How was our first date?" He asked, surprising Diana. She turned around and saw that he was nervous now, not letting on too much, but clearly waiting for a positive response. This made her smile; she was really getting him to reveal more of himself.
"It was pretty good" She replied with his smile and then left.
As the door closed, he sighed in relief that she'd had a good time, but afterward, he couldn't help but feel nervous and insecure. He'd started a relationship with his Blue Ranger, something that would be found out sooner or later, but nearly being destroyed by Killer Frost had made him want a relationship with her. He couldn't bear not having something with her if they were both brought to Darkseid without her knowing about how he felt. However, he was in a relationship with her now, and the war against Darkseid was about to begin all over again. He just hoped that the moment where he'd told her there was a time when you had to decide between love and duty wouldn't come, but he knew he was being stupid. That moment would come, but there was no telling when.
XXX
12:30
Barry and Shayera had finished picking up trash in the city park, at least for now. They couldn't believe how irresponsible people were with their trash, but this was only the first day of seven. However, they would be back soon to get revenge on Kal for ratting them out.
"I hope the look on Kal's face when the water balloons hit him is worth it" Shayera said.
"It'll be worth it, Shay. But we'll have to wait until he gets back to his room from detention" Barry said, somewhat sadly.
"Okay. We can wait a little longer for that" She said with a big smile on her face.
The Power Rangers dates with their partners had consequences, both for good and for bad.
What did you think? Did you like the fact that Bruce and Diana are officially a couple? How were the meetings between the different couples?
I thought about doing this battle section to let the women shine on their own, or at least give them something to say, except for Shayera, but I will fix it soon, but I gave her at least some dialogue. Also, it was necessary for Vixen to have at least one appearance, as I couldn't exclude her after so many mentions.
Sorry for the delay, but at least I've got another chapter finished. And with the next one, which still needs to be written, at least I have a clearer concept.
Well, that's all. See you in the next chapter.
NEXT: LITTLE SHAYERA, PART 1.