MERCENARIES, PART 1.
Unknown location.
"Their mission is to steal an ion shell in Zone C, but they can't do it from the inside. Because they are among the best known, they will be recognized instantly. You will have to be discreet," said the mysterious voice.
"Remember who you are talking to the best mercenaries on the planet," said one of the mercenaries.
"We do not fail," said the other.
"Lastly, I need you to verify if it is true about the new Power Rangers squad in Zone C, and verify if the Dark Ranger exists," the voice said.
The mercenaries just nodded and went to fulfill their mission. This was going to be difficult for the Rangers.
XXX
Base of Zone C. Training ground. 12:45.
Kal had jumped up and struck out with sword in hand. He was fighting the Dark Ranger, who, as always, had his Dark Sword in hand. Despite his best efforts, Kal was unable to harm the Dark Ranger, but he was not the only one frustrated.
Commander Wayne was getting impatient with his Rangers and their bad fighting, especially after the two defeats they had suffered at the hands of Captain Boomerang before Barry proved Claire and Milo Match were the bank robbers. After that event, the commander had scheduled individual training sessions. There were improvements, but Kal hated these training sessions the most. He always lost in a humiliating way, still using all his powers and strength.
The commander was quite frustrated as well, mostly because his cadet learned little and did not get the necessary experience to fight better compared to the other cadets. That was why she was being more aggressive with him. She wanted him to further forge his character beyond just hanging out with Lois and doing duty to the best of his ability.
The Dark Ranger landed two quick blows, scratching one, but Kal blocked the second. Unfortunately, the Dark Ranger kicked him in the stomach before launching another lunge at his chest. Kal fought back with desperate blows, driving the Dark Ranger back.
"Commander, is that all you have?" Kal asked teasingly. In fact, he felt somewhat fortunate that the match lasted longer than the last.
"Honestly, no. But we do not fight to win, it is about improving your fight, cadet," the Dark Ranger said, lowering his sword and launching two quick blows.
Kal blocked a blow, but the Dark Ranger lowered his sword, causing Kal to lean. The Dark Ranger took advantage of this to land a well-aimed blow to a nerve in the back, knocking him down. When he saw that Kal began to show off, he preferred to end the match to end the training.
"Well, cadet, that's it," he said holding out his hand to his cadet.
Kal took it. He didn't like losing again. He wanted to show that he could win.
"Once again, Commander," Kal said.
"That's it, cadet. I already trained with the other cadets and I finish with you as alway," said the Dark Ranger leaving.
He knew Kal was going to attack again. Kal grabbed his sword and ran as stealthily as he could behind the commander, but the Dark Ranger used his Dark Sword to hit Kal's sword, hitting it so hard that it broke it.
"I said that's it," said the Dark Ranger pointing his sword at Kal.
"Good," Kal said, raising his hands in surrender.
"Deactivate Powers," they both said at the same time.
"Commander, it's not fair. You cheat whenever we train," Kal said, frustrated.
"I have faced the five of you without any power in each training and according to you, I am a cheate," the commander said.
"Please, commander. If I had the Dark Sword I would have defeated you without blinking," Kal said.
"Sorry, I'm not sorry to say it, but even if you had my sword and I took what was left of yours, I would have won against you the same or worse," said the commander. "You are the same as everyone else. You think it's all about the powers and weapons instead of what really matters. Rest, cadet."
XXX
13:00
Diana was returning to her room. She had been running around the obstacle course for an hour before going to the shower and then returning to her room. She at least wanted to spend some quiet time before the commander interrupted with any mission or training. Diana opened the door to her room and stepped inside, but it was dark, and suddenly she felt someone jump on her and put her on the floor.
"Don't move if you don't want me to hurt you," a deep voice told him.
"Easy, Commander, I'm not going to do anything to enrage him," Diana said. However, the man on top of her didn't move, so Diana used her hands and her great strength to get up with the man still holding her. He threw two punches and one kick, but Diana dodged the blows and kicked him before he jumped up and delivered a flying kick.
"You are improving, but you still have too much to do," said the Dark Ranger. "Deactivate power."
The Dark Ranger returned to being the commander once more. He was telling the truth, she was starting to get tougher, but also more attentive to unexpected attacks. Obviously, he was not only training with Diana. The commander had also surprised the other four Rangers with those unexpected attacks. Only John, Diana and Shayera had responded effectively. Barry had tried to do his best, but in the first few attacks, he had been scared to death by being close to the commander. Kal was already fed up with training with the commander.
"You told me to find concentration, and I did. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like some quiet in private," Diana said.
"Remember that an enemy can appear at any time," said the commander.
"I know, Bruce. I just want to relax right now," Diana said.
The commander just left. She was getting better, but the bad thing about this is that her team still didn't trust her. She was getting impatient with her cadets…with everyone. Diana didn't want to get close to them, but the others weren't friendly either. In fact, at this very moment, John, Barry, and Shayera were relaxing in the entertainment room.
"Come on, Johnny. I am the best soccer player. I think a game against me would be good to learn to play better," said Barry.
"I've already seen you play and you always use your speed whenever you're losing. That takes away the excitement," John replied as he continued reading the league manual.
"Seeing you reading that manual takes away all my emotion," Barry said.
Shayera thought of talking to Kal, or Diana, but she still didn't trust her, and Kal wasn't there. The good thing about this is that she thought about asking a question to change the subject.
"I'm more concerned with where Kal is," she said.
"If we know him well, Shayera, then he left again with his journalist girlfriend and now they are taking advantage of the fact that there have been no criminals to fight with," John said, and how correct he was.
XXX
13:10
"Things have gone quite well in the newspaper. After you helped me modify those words, I improved a bit, and thanks to the news I have made of you and the Power Rangers, I have been moving up," Lois said.
However, to his chagrin, Kal was quite distracted. This was already beginning to be annoying. Kal always kept his appointments, but they were not enjoyable, not since Captain Bumeran tore them to pieces and caused them to increase the training.
"Kal, are you getting bored?" Lois asked.
Kal, looking his girlfriend in the eye again, knew that he had to be evasive, because he thought she was not going to like this. "I'm not bored with you, Lois. I would never do that. It's just that I'm kind of annoyed with Wayne's excessive training," Kal replied.
Lois did not like his answer. In the previous appointments or times that could happen, he was upset by something that happened at the base. She wanted him to pay attention because he could not think about the commander and what bothered him all the time they were in a room together.
"Kal, this has gotten more annoying. Now we are dating, but you are letting me talk alone because there is always something about the commander or the base that bothers you. It would be better if you told me why it bothers you so much." Lois told him, hoping that he would listen to her.
"It would seem silly to you," Kal said. He quite underestimated his girlfriend.
"Say it anyway. At any moment we could go back to our jobs on the orders of our bosses," Lois said.
This finally convinced Kal. "Well, the commander is not fair at all. With training, I always lose because he uses his Dark Sword. If I could use that sword, I would defeat him without any effort. He knows it, and because of that, he won't let me use it," Kal said.
"Kal, I can't say anything to your commander because I don't work there, but I'm sure you're putting a lot of emphasis on a weapon. Plus, you have more powers than him, so you should be happy with that," Lois said.
"Maybe, but I don't like losing to him over and over again," Kal said.
"Then do something about it, because if you continue this way, I think I'll focus more on work than on you," Lois said.
"Don't worry Lois. I'm not going to continue like this," Kal said.
They finished eating, kissed each other goodbye, and each went their own way. At least they weren't interrupted at the time, but in no time everything would change.
XXX
14:00
The alarm sounded, and the five Rangers arrived at the conference room. For the first time in days, there was a robbery, but not from a bank, but from a power plant arrest him.
"Rangers, robbery at the City power station," he said. "Arrest him."
"Ready!" They responded in unison.
"Justice League, activate," the five said in unison and transformed.
XXX
14:03
Only one mercenary had managed to easily defeat the security guards of the building, but there was no sign of the other. It was not known if he was only following him as a guard or if he had gone to do something that seemed funny to him.
He managed to remove one of the many ion crusts that were in the power plant. That crust was an electrical system created by a brilliant scientist long ago that helped the environment by reducing energy consumption because it provides clean and inexhaustible energy to every city in the world. However, these systems always had to be protected to prevent some mastermind from causing an energy crisis like the one that had occurred six years ago, when Commander Wayne had a different team of Rangers than today.
After having scanned the crust, the mercenary exited the headquarters and saw that the guards were no longer on the ground, but the five Power Rangers were facing forward. The mercenary analyzed the Rangers for a few seconds, surprised that they were quite varied in muscular complexión. The red was quite robust, the blue was very slim, the green was balanced between being strong and athletic, the yellow was the thinnest of the men, while the rosy one had a thinner torso than her legs.
Meanwhile, the Rangers saw that this mercenary was too strange. He had black and orange armored armor, in addition to having two pistols, a rifle, grenades and a sword. But the strangest thing about this was his mask, which was divided into orange on the left side and black on the right side. There was only one eye on the left side, while the right was completely covered.
"Stop there, sir," Kal said. He wanted this to be simple and without violence so that there would be no damage. Well that and he did not want the commander to increase the training time that he already had.
"You can't tell me what to do, Rangers. I am the best mercenary in the world and I will not fall before you," he said as he walked around in the same place.
After thinking for a few more seconds, he knew that the Dark Ranger wasn't there. He had to do something to make him appear. "You will not be able to stop me," he said pulling out a pistol and starting to shoot them.
The Rangers evaded the mercenary's bullets as Barry attacked the mercenary with a blow to the back, but upon hitting him, he was electrocuted. The mercenary also had an anti-attack system on his back. Diana went against him and gave him a roundhouse kick to the ground, but he jumped and dodged her.
She launched another kick, but this time to the head. He again dodged and tried to shoot him, but she managed to throw the gun of his hand before trying to punch him to the chest. He managed to stop her, but she tried to do the same with his other hand. The mercenary stopped her again and shot her with a gun that came out of his hand. Those weapons were embedded in the internal muscles of the person who acquired them. They could shoot it as long as they extended their arm enough, but they had been banned because whenever a crime was committed, fingerprints could not be traced. However, there were still other planets where they were still sold and inserted into criminals.
The mercenary repeatedly shot Diana until she was shot. This had been one of the easiest matches he'd ever had with a Ranger. He bent down and said, "You're predictable, woman."
Diana tried to hit him, but he dodged the blow. He fired more, but John and Kal intervened, John with a hammer and Kal with his laser vision. The mercenary counterattacked his sword at Kal's chest, interrupting him before grabbing his rifle and firing it repeatedly. John created a shield and then sent a truck to hit him. The mercenary jumped up and threw two grenades at John and Kal, but Shayera took out a pistol and managed to hit him in the ribs, throwing him.
Diana tried to attack again with sword in hand. She managed to give the mercenary a few cuts before kicking him in the chest, but he stopped her. He would have attacked her if it had not been for a strong blow from Barry to the fase which distracted him. It allowed Diana to kick him into the air and throw him to the ground with her foot on his chest. Shayera took advantage and electrocuted him so that he no longer attacked.
"Who is the predictable one now?" Diana said.
"You are still you. You won thanks to the others, but not against you," the mercenary replied.
"Well, that doesn't matter, rookie," John said approaching with the handcuffs. "What matters is that he is under arrest" John pulled him close to put the arrest handcuffs on him.
"I am Deathstroke, and this is not the end," Deathstroke said.
"Your name is Deathstroke, but you look like a disgraced soldier," Barry scoffed.
"Free me or you will suffer," Deathstroke said.
"You are already arrested," Shayera said. "You are not going anywhere for a long time."
Right after Shayera said this, a gunshot rang out. However, this shot hit the five Rangers one after another in a matter of milliseconds. Deathstroke took advantage of this and ran for his pistol lying on the ground and shot all five of them.
Barry ran again, but another shot from somewhere else hit Barry in the right foot, knocking him down. Deathstroke wanted to deal more damage with his sword, but Shayera recovered and shot Deathstroke, but another shot rang out and hit him. He hit Shayera on the shoulder.
Kal got fed up and fired with his heat vision wherever he went. Then, he drew his sword unconfident and tried to attack Deathstroke, but with such slow and poorly coordinated blows, Deathstroke managed to defeat him with three quick cuts before using his pistol.
John managed to take a spring jump that had gotten him to his feet with his mind and hammered a cell around Deathstroke. However, another shot rang out and John was hit in the chest and the bullet ricocheted and was aimed at Diana who was already close to attacking him.
"Well, I think now we're the unpredictable ones," Deathstroke said.
After he said this, a man slimmer than him landed next to him. He had a suit on his torso and legs, while his head, feet and hands were covered by chrome garments, and in his hands were two weapons.
"Exactly. Try to challenge the best mercenaries in the world and you get the most suffering of all," said the other mercenary.
"One-eyed seer, but seer. I am Deathstroke," he said, making a pointing pose with his rifle.
"The expert marksman on Earth. Deadshot," said the other mercenary putting his hands in a sign of power.
Fortunately, the Dark Ranger arrived on the scene and fired hum bombs at them before using the grapple gun to lure Deadshot. He hit him with his electric fist and weaken him, but Deathstroke shot him with a device he had hidden, a device that fell into place. It slammed into the chest and a grappling hook shot into a wall, but the Dark Ranger cut the wire and avoided crashing into the wall.
Afterward, he attacked Deathstroke, who tried to defend himself with his sword, but the Dark Ranger was too much. He was going to continue, but Deadshot recovered and shot him before the Dark Ranger launched an explosive boomerang and hit him. This caused the Dark Ranger to run towards the ion crust and touch it for a brief moment, but Deathstroke retrieved it and carried the unconscious Deadshot on his shoulder.
"Deactivate Powers," said the Dark Ranger and returned to being the commander. "Cadets, are you okay?" asked the commander.
"Deactivate Powers. We are fine, commander," they said at the same time.
Kal was upset, because he tried to attack Deathstroke with any sword and it was very bad, but the Dark Ranger easily defeated him. However, he was not the only one frustrated. Diana was also frustrated because they had defeated and insulted her while Shayera and Barry felt weak when receiving accurate shots that left them out of action. John could not believe that someone like Deathstroke mocked his power to create items with his mind, but the commander was the most frustrated of all.
XXX
14:50
"Rangers, I can't believe it. You lost to the two most experienced mercenaries in the world, but in a terrible way. You lost like you were rookies, and the entire team is divided. You have to do something so that this does not happen again," said the commander almost shouting. He had trained them harder, but it seemed like they weren't trying.
"Deadshot's attack took us by surprise, Commander," Barry said. "You should know that."
"I have trained you and told you that you have to pay attention to the unexpected, but you forgot it," said the commander. This time they couldn't contradict him.
"It is not fair, commander. I told you to give me your sword, you refused and I took a beating. Therefore, it is your fault," Kal said.
"Don't try to blame me for your mistake. So now, if you want to defeat them, you will have to improve your attacks and prepare for the unexpected," the commander said, losing a bit of fury in his voice.
"Sorry to ask, Commander, but didn't they take that thing away from headquarters?" John asked.
"They took it, but I managed to remove a component. It's unusable like that, so get around the table to be aware of this," the commander ordered, and the Rangers, even though they wanted to leave, followed his order.
"Deathstroke is a mercenary, his real name is Slade Wilson. He was part of a secret experiment to create super soldiers, and although he received psychic and physical improvements, he left the program and became Deathstroke. He is missing his right eye. That's why he wears that mask in that way," he said knowing that his Rangers wondered why he was wearing that mask in that way.
"The other mercenary is Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot. He's an expert marksman. No matter how much you try to distract him, he always hits a shot, but he's not that skilled in combat. Although this is something too casual, they tried to steal an ion Shell. The device provides clean and infinite energy, but it can create an infinite energy crisis if someone obtains one and creates a system that absorbs all the electricity in the city. This means that they are working for someone to steal this, but I don't know who it could be, and this is stressful," said the commander.
"So now we have to defeat both of them so they don't take the bark?" Shayera said knowing the answer.
"Exactly, but until they attack, you'd better eat and train so you don't lose again," said the commander. This made all the Rangers leave, including Diana, who did not want to lose again against the mercenaries; but Kal was the only one who did not leave.
"It doesn't matter if I train, Commander. I need your sword to defeat them," Kal said to the commander.
"It's all in your head, cadet. Now go, you need to improve," he ordered.
Kal left with an annoyed face, but for now he was going to put up with it, as he would press him until the commander gave him his sword.
XXX
15:00
"I can't believe this Dark Ranger managed to take an item from the bark. He's going to be mad if we don't take him away," Deadshot said.
"We will have to steal another bark again, but we must change our strategy. Now they will be waiting for us," Deathstroke said.
They both planned a new strategy, and they were sure it would work, maybe yes, maybe not.
NEXT: MERCENARIES, PART 2.
Well, with this, I must say, Merry Christmas 2020. This year has been complicated, but we have survived, and a new year is close, so we must be strong. And, let's hope WonderBat be canon the next year. Don't forget if you have an idea for a chapter, you can tell me in the comments. Thanks.