The Good Leader Part 1.

Synopsis: While investigating the location of Two Faces, Kal has to learn that being the Red Ranger is not a game.

...

Chapter 5

Kal and Diana had their backs to a vehicle in a parking lot. They were listening to a conversation of two followers of Two Faces, or they could be common criminals. Kal was waiting for a signal from his other companions to arrest the criminals. He was getting impatient over whether they were going to act or not. Kal was very keen to create good impressions to have a perfect file to be able to move to another base of the Justice League in another part of the world and take if he could to Barry and Shayera with him.

Meanwhile, Diana had to get used to going on special missions, in addition to receiving orders from men. Although she knew that Major Wayne was her boss and Kal was superior to her in rank, she was not used to dealing with men yet, and especially with the arrogance of Kal that increased by each workout. She even hoped to be able to reason with John himself after finishing this mission. The good thing about this situation is that he was beginning to like Shayera's company, but he still distrusted everyone.

John, Barry and Shayera had their backs to another vehicle that was in front of them. They were waiting for Kal's signal. John kept thinking that Kal was the worst option to be the Red Ranger. Partly it was envy, but another was that he knew that Kal was a real arrogant, because of how he mocked him when he beat him and his teammates in training sessions, as well as how he scoffed at having been chosen Red Ranger. instead of him. John was waiting for the opportunity for Major Wayne to ask about his performance as leader to be removed from his rank.

At that moment, the criminals saw by a mirror that they were being watched and shouted "Run!". The two groups of Rangers ran towards the criminals, because they were well prepared to act in these situations. However, John and Kal collided physically with their bodies, although they did not fight. These two men had issues to clarify, but they did not know how, apart from fighting.

Diana went to the thinnest criminal towards the entrance of the parking lot, to discover that he was a stocky man, after the criminal took off his black jacket. The criminal threw two punches, one towards Diana's stomach, and another toward her face. Diana blocked the two punches, but was later greeted by a strong flying kick to her face. The criminal was much more agile in the fight, but Diana was enjoying this, because she believed that this taught men that women were strong. After the flying kick, Diana grabbed the criminal by the arms and gave him a strong headbutt, the criminal responded with a knee to Diana's stomach, but Diana saw him coming and released the criminal to deliver a strong blow to the chest, which He sent the criminal flying two meters and landed on the ground on his back. Diana used her Morpho and received wives, which she then put on the criminal, which meant that one was already solved, but another was missing.

Barry and Shayera wondered if John and Kal were fighting again, or if they saw some dangerous criminal who also fled and decided to pursue him, rather they believed the latter. The biggest criminal was very slow, so Shayera easily dodged the blows, but was counterattacked with the elbow of the criminal, to later be hit in the face. Barry saw this and gave the quickest blows to the criminal on the hip, arms and face; he managed to put him on his knees, but was hit in the face by the criminal and was thrown a few meters, fortunately it did not cause injuries, and Barry wanted to beat him, but Shayera gave him a flying kick in the face that crashed the criminal against the car. Barry took advantage of this and hit the criminal to disorient him. Barry hit the criminal a few more times, before Shayera used Morpho's arrest wives and put them in the hands of the criminal. The fight was done.

Barry, Shayera and Diana returned with the two criminals in handcuffs, only to get to the parking lot and see John and Kal arguing again, but not at an extreme level at least.

"It's not my fault. I would have made the two arrests without anyone's help, but the leader did not give me exact orders and I could not act," Kal said.

"For the first time I agree with you," John said with a big smile on his face.

"Then, who is the leader?" Kal asked.

"It's you," John said, still smiling.

At that time, Kal did not think he would be the leader. He had seen the Power Rangers before and wanted to be one, but he did not consider him to be the leader. He thought he was the strongest, and not the leader. But now that he knew it, he felt more confident than before. Unfortunately, the other four Rangers did not have that confidence at the moment.

In the base conference room, the four Rangers watched videos of the interrogations made to the two criminals arrested today, and curiously Major Wayne had conducted the interrogations. Kal was out of the room, playing with a little ball he had taken from the routine morning exercises. It was his only major fun, after running or playing with Barry at the races, even though Barry always won.

"We've been able to get information from the two criminals locked up," said the commander, "One of them did not know anything, but the other says that the Two-Face operations center is just outside Gotham, so well done Rangers."

"Thank you, Commander," the four answered in unison.

"However, we must verify the information of the criminal, so we will send a group of undercover soldiers to that area, to confirm the whereabouts of Two Faces. But, reviewing the mission report, you should remember that you will count on each future mission as Power Rangers with Kal-El as your leader. By the way, where is he?"

Barry went to the door and told Kal to come. Kal was still playing with his ball, while the others watched as their leader was an irresponsible child.

"Cadet El," said the commander, "you will be the leader of the Power Rangers. Remember, being the leader requires an iron mentality, a great responsibility and a lot of determination."

"Sure, sir," Kal said.

"Well, you can go, cadets."

Diana could not believe that Kal was the leader, he seemed irresponsible to her, besides he was someone that was very carefree. He was surprised that the commander chose Kal as a leader, but he did not know him, so she knew he had to be patient with him.

...

The next day, Kal fell asleep more than usual, while his fellow Rangers performed the morning exercises. Kal felt most fortunate, and the most important. He would stay in bed for another two hours. Then he would dress in his new red dress, as with his fellow Rangers, Kal had a dress with some red parts, depending on the color of the Ranger they were.

Then he would go to breakfast, and he would stay at the entertainment center for about two hours. He was reading an electronic cartoon in one of the holograms, until a baritone voice interrupted him from his particular amusement.

"A not very educational reading," said the commander.

"It's very educational, sir," Kal said.

"I thought you would be with your fellow Rangers, cadet."

"I'll be, but I need time for me, sir."

"Yes, it shows, cadet."

"Your uniform is ironed and folded here," said an employee at the base who entered the center and handed his uniform to Kal in the chair.

"Thanks, as I promised, I'm going to give a good recommendation to get promoted," he told the employee, but obviously he was not going to fulfill that promise. The commander was looking at him with a frown.

"What?" Kal said. "I need clothes."

"You know you're the leader, Cadet El, and I told you what it takes to be one, so you should set an example."

"Did you care, commander, I'm going to catch up with my teammates in field training."

With that, Major Wayne left the room. He knew that no one of the new Power Rangers he chose would be the leader overnight, just as they would not be a very fast team, so he knew that everyone needed to learn over time, if they had the right stimuli.

...

The other four Rangers had just finished the training circuit, which included crawling through the mud under lasers that hurt you and left the skin marked.

"Well done mates," Kal said, sitting in a chair with lemon water.

"I do not understand," Barry said, brushing the mud off his training uniform like his other three companions. "You said you would reach us in training."

"I'm here."

"But we thought you would train."

"I'm the Red Ranger, Barry. I thought it was clear to them."

"Yes, but we did not think you would make this a game," John said.

"Well, I'll give you a challenge: go to the showers and go to the simulated practice right now. I will reach you later."

Nobody moved a single muscle.

"That's an order!"

All reluctantly did. John had a very spiteful look, but he would not say anything until the commander informed them of the Two Face's pursuit. Diana was not surprised by Kal's behavior, so once she finished with the exercises that Kal ordered them to perform (because she had already finished with the routine exercises) she would go with the commander to solve this. Barry and Shayera gave each other a very surprised look; both knew that Kal was a good person, but he proved to be a selfish leader, but they hoped that this would not last long, because it would be a very hard job if his best friend was fired because of them.

...

Major Wayne was as usual in the conference room, watching through the monitor, hoping to get the advance of the investigation into the location of Two Faces. He had been chasing this dangerous criminal professional for more than three months, but many members of the league in the area ended up dead or disappeared. He needed to catch him as soon as possible.

The sound of the door opening interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and got up to see the blue Ranger, Diana Prince in rest position ... and with a very determined look. He had to admit that she looked as stiff as him.

"Prince," said the commander.

"Commander," said Diana. "I am not someone who complains a lot, but I want to say that you made a terrible choice with Kal-El as our leader."

"Cadet, being the Red Ranger takes too much, and Kal-El has what it takes. Although you think otherwise, cadet."

"You have not seen what he does?"

"Yes, and I must say that it is honorable."

"Honorable? He's totally crazy, commander."

"Look cadet, Kal-El is your leader and we need him. I know about your past, and I tell you that if you do not learn to work with men, you are as bad and cowardly as many men I have known."

This made Diana angry, since no one spoke to her as directly or as firmly as the man in front of her, but she was also upset because he was right. Her hometown, Themyscira, was in charge of hating men, but Diana wanted to change that, and if she did not learn to work as a team, then she would be as cowardly as the men she and her country hated.

"I'm just saying that we can not have Kal as a leader because of his bad leadership."

"When you get information about the whereabouts of Two Faces, the Kal-El cadet will guide you on your mission. Meanwhile, continue with the training, Princess."

"Why did you call me that?"

"I think Prince is a singer already deceased, and Princess would sound a little less derogatory or more appropriate. Remember that you are not more important than anyone here, not even by what others call you."

"Thank you, commander."

Diana left, intrigued by how the commander called her Princess, but she found it somewhat intriguing. Nobody called her that. Everyone called her Diana, Di or Prince, but this was new. This she found interesting and very accommodating. She was more excited to continue this with the commander, but for now, the main priority was to make Kal know he was a bad leader, or a lazy guy. But the nickname of Princess still echoed in her mind.

...

The next day, the routine was the same: the four Rangers did the usual exercises, but this time Kal did not show up anywhere. The Rangers did not know where Kal was, but they were more convinced that this must be solved, and fast.

They thought they would have to spend a whole day doing nothing, until J'onn found them in the entertainment room, with Kal at his side. Kal was half dressed and with another cartoon in his hands, everyone again gave annoyed looks when they saw him arrive. J'onn told them that the commander had new information about the case. After arriving at the conference room, the five were watching a hologram on the location of Two Faces.

"After a day and a half of patrolling," said Major Wayne, "we have located the location of Two Faces in the old Court of Justice. They already know their mission, and they know their positions and obligations as Rangers, is everything clear?"

Everyone nodded slowly, except for Kal, who nodded.

Just before everyone left and prepared for another trip to Old Gotham, the commander stopped them with another question, which they did not expect to hear, not even Diana.

"Before leaving, I need to know if you trust Kal-El as your leader."

Next: the good leader part 2.