Recruitment, Part 3

9:00

The five cadets awoke with some pain in their bodies. The combat had left them with aching muscles. They decided to stay in their beds to relieve their bodies. When they raised their heads, they all saw a sheet of paper on their doors. Everyone got up quickly to the door and took the sheet.

CADETS.

HERE IS YOUR SCHEDULE FOR THIS DAY. FOLLOW IT TO PERFECTION AND WE CAN SEE YOU IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM AT 3:00 PM.

ATTENTIVELY: J'ONN J'ONNZ FROM COMMANDER WAYNE.

The schedule included warm-up exercises and simulated practices, but before they had to eat breakfast and study the handling of vehicles so that the food did not create stomach problems. Barry, Kal, Shayera and John were not happy with this, but they had to do it, because maybe it would be the day, but they had to wait until three o'clock, and make this schedule.

In their sports attire-trousers and gray shirts-they went to breakfast, but it was the most uncomfortable. Nobody said anything during the breakfast. John had grudges against Shayera and Diana, but he was sure that soon he would be more important or that he would be fired for having fought against him because of ruining the practice mission. He did not like being around her, but he felt neutral with Shayera, he did not feel bad, but not good either. Diana tried to say something, but she did not want any more arguments, especially after she scolded Kal and made her feel worse. Barry felt useless because of his low resistance and his rapid demolition of the previous day's exercise.

Shayera and Diana were sitting next to each other, and Diana was happy that she did not speak either, but she felt a little more comfortable, but she deduced that she would follow her all over again today, but it did not bother her, because now I was feeling sympathy for her. In fact, Diana could see that she would not let the men make her feel inferior either, which she considered friendly. You could say that this day was the beginning of a feminine friendship. This was because Diana had been with many men in her training since she left Themyscira, so she hoped to find a friend who shared her ideals, and apparently she was here.

Kal did not say anything either. He felt like a boss for having ordered Diana and John to stop fighting, especially since he was not a leader. He also felt guilty for being the winner in yesterday's training, but he felt he needed to expel his frustrations and disconformities caused by John and Diana for their fights. Yes, they had known each other for a day and they already hated or fought over everything, but it had to stay that way for now. Give them time, he thought.

The training of the vehicles for its use was very simple, although it lasted an hour. They had to drive on a skating rink for half an hour, after having watched an educational movie or video about how trucks, motorcycles and vehicles work for large loads as soldiers. Diana and Shayera were interacting as good friends while driving the vehicle. Meanwhile, the men acted like the bad guys when they chose bikes, but after fifteen minutes, they were told they also had to drive a 4-person vehicle, which they did for the rest of the vehicular training.

The warm-up included simple exercises that helped to adapt their muscles after the pains that still resented their bodies. Barry managed to generate laughs from everyone with creative jokes about his exercises. Barry did not need a lot of warm-up because he was very fast, but he did have some pain in his legs and hands, because he had not used them too long in his life. Another thing that generated laughter was that Barry was motivating his teammates like personal trainers, which caused distractions until John nudged him and sent him to the ground. It is worth mentioning that they were accompanied by other dozens of soldiers during that time. All the soldiers were trained at that hour, and apparently the five cadets would have to get used to that, if they stayed.

The simulation exercise was calmer than its exercise the previous day. It was the same to follow a supposed arms dealer, which ended in a chase that Barry easily ended. Sadly, the dealer turned out to be very strong, so it was a fight that ended up winning Kal, but with the help of Diana, while the others could not resist much. There was another resentment on the part of the other three. Now Shayera and Barry were not sure that Kal was the leader.

Finally, the five cadets had to go to the conference room, a little tired, but very excited. It had to happen this time, so they walked guided by J'onn, just as he had guided them for their other morning activities. With time, the tour of the central would be memorized. Upon entering, they found the commander. As always, they put themselves in resting position, so that the commander ordered them to put themselves around the table of holograms.

"This task is not easy, cadets, but it's the best way to start," he said before the hologram was projected onto the table. In this area of Gotham, there have been indicators that it is the control center of illegal activities of the professional criminal known as Two Faces.

None of the cadets knew whether to believe Commander Wayne that this was his great calling, they were more than distrustful of the day before. So, no one formed any hope that he would give them a real mission. Barry, Kal and Shayera thought about giving up the League once this happened.

"Two faces," Major Wayne said after the hologram changed from the map of the City to that of a man with horrible burns on the middle of his body, while the other side of his body was intact. He had reddish skin on one side and white skin on the other, his hair was burned from his left side while the other still had gray-black hair. "Formerly the most honorable prosecutor of Gotham City, until the splash of acid from the late chief of the criminal family, Carmine, left him disfigured and crazed. It became Two Faces. A lot of caution with him; He is an expert in pistols and has excellent marksmanship."

The hologram went out and the commander and the cadets left the table to return to their usual positions.

"Before you leave for your mission, cadets," said Commander Wayne, "since this is your first real mission, and you will face a real and skilled criminal with weapons, you will need protection. No more detours, congratulations, cadets, you are the new Power Rangers of Gotham City.

Nobody said anything. Everybody was silent. No one knew what to say after hearing the last sentence. Everyone opened their mouths, except Diana, because she was desperate to go after the call Two Faces and stop him for the lives he had claimed. The other four were shocked, but they closed their mouths after a minute, they wanted to leave.

"J'onn," the commander said again, "show them."

J'onn arrived with a metal portfolio that he put on the table. He opened the portfolio and took out something similar to an old phone, but more modified (open and close the covers). He grabbed one and showed it to the still surprised cadets.

"That's how they work," J'onn said, opening the phone. "These work with these symbols, press any button to request a tool or artifact, such as arrest wives, pistols, swords or to ask for help."

Right after he said this, he demonstrated all these objects. He only pressed a button on the phone and out of the phone came the arrest handcuffs, a pistol and a sword; When dialing help an electronic voice rang and said "Help on the way". The five cadets were more than surprised.

Major Wayne took J'onn's phone and gave it to Barry. J'onn handed the portfolio to the commander and he took it one by one and handed it to Shayera, Kal, Diana and John, respectively.

"Remember what I'm going to say now forever, cadets," the commander said again. "This is a Morpho to be Rangers, so do not lose it and take care of it; Being Power Ranger, this Morpho is your life, and if someone loses it in combat or around here and nobody recovers it, they will be immediately expelled from the League. Second, do not forget the mission of being a Power Ranger in the Justice League: protect others at all costs and bring justice everywhere where the opposite is presented. It is understood?"

"Look, cadets," said the commander again, "I know you do not trust me because of yesterday's mission, or yesterday's exercise, but it was necessary. Also, I swear to you that this is a real mission.

"The commander speaks truthfully," J'onn added. "Two Faces is one of the most wanted criminals in Gotham, and it has claimed the lives of both civilians and members of the Justice League.

The latter surprised the soldiers, because J'onn had never said anything when he was in front of the commander. This last motivated the cadets, it seemed that they were finally going to a real mission.

"Yes sir" Said the five new Rangers in unison.

"One last thing, don't forget that, in order to transform, you must say "Justice League, activate" and press the red top button of the Morpho, and you will transform, cadets. Good luck."

Fired like lightning, the five new Rangers left to go to the vehicle bay, while Major Wayne and J'onn J'onnz stayed in the conference room.

"I knew you would make the right decision, commander," said J'onn.

"It will not be the right decision, until we see the result," said the commander. "They need to learn a lot."

"Since you studied and monitored them during the two days they have been here, I am sure you will instruct them well, and that you made the right decision, commander."

After this, J'onn retired, and left Commander Wayne alone again, because being a commander was stressful and very laborious. Both had work to do.

In the vehicle bay, again Shayera and Diana went in their transport, and the men in theirs. Everyone was excited, so they kept talking about who were now Power Rangers, but as they spoke, everyone thought what color each one had, because it was the important thing for most, except for Kal and Diana. While John, Shayera and Barry kept saying they expected to be chosen in the highest ranks.

John hoped to be the leader, so that Diana would respect him and not dare to attack him again. Barry also to show his worth, and Shayera for wanting to be the one to give orders to the three men.

They parked according to the coordinates of the vehicles, a few streets away from the location. Fortunately they had found an alley where they could hide the vehicles. Everyone got out of the vehicles and walked in groups cautiously until they were one street away from the center of criminal activity.

"Well," John said, "now we have to explore this, and Barry, now he should." Also, as I am sure I am the leader of the Power Rangers, you must obey me."

"And how do you know you're the leader of the Power Rangers, John?" Diana asked.

"I know, now obey.

"No," said the four in unison.

"We do not know who our leader is," Kal said, "but now we're on a real mission, and they'd probably fire us if we ruined it again."

"True," said Shayera, "but I agree that Barry must go explore. Also, if we activate the costumes, we will attract attention, so knowing who our leader is now would be untimely."

"Good," Kal said. "Barry?"

"Thank you," Barry said, before running quickly to the place.

While Barry was late returning, everyone gave each other angry looks. John to Clark, Diana to John, Kal to Shayera and Shayera to the two men. They continued to have tensions between partners. Diana felt that this equipment did not work, and that men were the problem, so it would be better if she went back to her home, Themyscira, while Shayera was still deciding which man to exploit once she knew that she was the leader. John because he was more expert on the battlefield, but Kal was angry at the bad treatment towards him and towards Diana.

Everything was interrupted by the tapping of different people inside the building. The four quickly went to a window and saw Barry fighting, but losing against many men, and some women with a disguise similar to the villain Two-Face they had seen before -white and black-. Barry tried to fight again and again, but everyone else was too much for him.

"Look!" Probably the manager of the crime center told all the other criminals in the building "One from the League of Losers! Now you will see how no one, not even a child, can defeat all of us!"

He stood in front of Barry, who was held by two thugs, and hit him with his fist in Barry's jaw.

"Tell me, are you accompanied?" the leader asked Barry.

Barry did not respond, causing them to hit him again in the stomach.

"The Justice League must have been the dumbest to send a foolish boy to do the work of a man. Since I can not do much against you on the orders of our master, you will be taken to Two-Face for a better interrogation. Take it.

Just then, the other four broke the window and jumped to the bottom floor, where Barry was. Upon seeing the construction, it was seen that this building used to be an old court of justice, which was already very old; it had not been used in apparently 20 years at least.

"Destroy them all!" The leader of the place shouted-

All were against the four Rangers, while Barry took the opportunity to escape and continue hitting the thugs with his super speed. The other four Rangers began to fight against the building's thugs, Kal and Diana with heavy blows, Shayera with martial arts and John creating boxing gloves to increase the size of his hands, also boosting his strength.

The attack was effective for a short time, to see that more thugs arrived, and that they had metal knuckles or metal swords.

The five Rangers were defeated and cornered in the center of the building. Finally they saw another failure to come.

"This does not work," Kal said.

"Seriously?" John asked

"We must transform ourselves," Diana said.

"Good idea," said Barry, who took out his Morpho. He was in position. What did we have to say for the Morpho?

"We do not know," said Shayera, Kal, and Diana in unison.

"Justice League, activate," said John, who had already done the procedure Commander Wayne told them, and he was now transforming, and everyone saw his Power Ranger uniform.

Next: Recruitment Part 4.