THE BLUE RANGER DUEL, PART 1.
Unknown location.
"You already know what your mission is," said the voice of the mysterious man to his most trusted assassin.
"You know it is never necessary to repeat it to me, master," said the mysterious woman who covered her body with a black cloak. "I know I have to destroy, divide or separate the Rangers one by one, and the first is the blue one. She has great potential to be one of our group, master."
"We've watched over her. We've seen that she's from nowhere known and her team excludes her, so if you can make her become one of us, then she would be a great addition. She would be a lethal weapon. But you know that if she refuses…" the mysterious man said wanting the woman to finish the sentence.
"I will eliminate her, master," the woman completed the sentence.
"Well done. Now go," the man ordered, and the woman left. The great threat was about to begin its first attack.
XXX
10:00
Diana woke up from her bed quite calm. Despite the fact that her fellow Rangers still refused to speak to her most of the time, John had shown some improvement by telling her a little about the team situation.
However, these days, the team was somewhat fragmented. Even though they all trained in the same place and at the same time, it seemed that after training and fighting each one was taking a different direction. It was difficult to talk to all of them since each Ranger was focused on one thing not so important.
She was the most affected by this as she became more isolated and bored. Damn, being bored was one of the things she hated the most. She was considering whether it was good to keep working this way or to spend more time away from base. Maybe someone would become her friend, and she would have something good to do.
She was the princess of the Amazons who when left the island had only the goal of finding her kidnapped friend. Then her goal was to help people who were weak or who could not defend themselves. However, this changed over time, and now she had a new goal that was not being met. This was why she was fed up with this situation.
Diana got up, put on her uniform, and went to breakfast alone as always. Some of the staff greeted her and wished her a good day. She also responded with a happy face despite being bored. After the break, she and her fellow Rangers went to train as a team and then individually with Commander Wayne, but as had happened previously, they did not speak to her, except for John, the commander, and J'onn.
In the end, she decided to go back to her room and hang out there. Despite the fact that she had been trained to be a formidable fighter, her mentality was not the best. She still had insecurities and bad times. She didn't know if after everything that had happened telling them the reason why she decided to hide her secret from them was going to solve this situation. The last thing she wanted was to make it worse.
Sadly to her, Commander Wayne wasn't there to train surprise attacks. It would have distracted her from the annoying situation, but this day was not for training with her like that. It made her more angry. Not even he or J'onn were trying to cheer her up.
The reason was that the commander knew that John was the only one speaking to Diana of the four Rangers, but she still had the certainty that they would all solve it without her help. It seemed she was wrong and they needed a little incentive to fix it. Fortunately, today was the day that it would begin to be resolved.
Around one in the afternoon, the alarm sounded. The five Rangers went to the conference room where the commander and J'onn were manning the city camera.
"Rangers, there's an attack in the Diamond district in the Gotham City Royal hotel. You will have to divide. The attacks are coming from three different locations," said the commander.
"Alright, let's go," Kal ordered. They all went to the Diamond District.
XXX
13:00
The Rangers arrived at the hotel and Kal divided them into three groups—he with Shayera, John with Barry and Diana alone. Again, it upset her a lot, but she thought it best to vent her anger on the criminal who was causing damage.
To her misfortune, the mysterious woman sent by the man took a giant leap from the skyscrapers where they were and landed in the center of the street. The Rangers were surprised that the woman was so strong.
"Hello, Rangers. I can see that you are under the authority of the Justice League to save this terrible city," she said to enrage them with her calm, but at the same time, her sharp and threatening tone made them nervous.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," John said. "The city is flawed, but it's not terrible."
"That thought is only for fool," said the woman. "So I guess you guys are going to try to stop me." She guessed knowing what was going to happen.
"We wouldn't have to stop you if you give up," Shayera said.
"Someone like me would never surrender to inferior beings like you," said the woman preparing for combat.
"And who are you, woman?" Barry asked in a curious tone combined with mocking.
"Call me Lady Shiva," said the woman taking off her black cloak and throwing it at the Rangers.
By removing the cape and having a clear view, it was revealed that she was a slim woman with a wine-colored outfit that covered her from her neck to her feet even covered her arms. In those two garments, she had various golden lace.
On her head, she had a kind of crown on her head. Her hair was brown and it was gathered in a long ponytail which hung to the lower part of her back which was also intimidating. She was smiling with her thin crimson lips, her thin green eyes, and her pointed nose. This woman seemed to be too calm, but she hid such a Machiavellian, disciplined and voracious personality. To start, she tried to attack Kal, but the Rangers dodged the blow.
"Why are all the women we face so sexy?" Barry asked. This somewhat annoyed Shayera. This was sure to cause a problem for her friend.
"That doesn't matter, Barry. We have to stop her," Shayera said annoyed.
"Are we ready?" Kal said.
"Yes," the other four Rangers said.
"Justice League, actívate," the five rangers said in unison and they transformed.
"Now!" Lady Shiva yelled.
From the streets, a group of ninjas formed, or so they seemed from their black clothes that covered their entire body except the eyes. They also carried swords.
"Oh no," Kal said looking at the group of ninjas.
Obviously this caused the Rangers to split up individually to fight the ninjas. Kal drew a sword to fight the ninjas. Since his fight with the mercenary Deathstroke, he was more than ready to use a sword in a dominant way. Even though Kal was slower in attacks, the ninjas were faster than strong, so he was resistant to their attacks.
Meanwhile, John created bombs and a shield to attack the ninjas. Barry only dodged blows and then hit the ninjas. Meanwhile, Shayera this time fought with a sword, and not with a gun. Although Diana had more dexterity with the sword, she was not wrong.
However, Diana confronted Lady Shiva, but from the beginning she got bad. Lady Shiva was so fast and so accurate with her blows that Diana was hit over and over again. Diana was stronger, but Lady Shiva was agile.
After keeping an eye on her, the attacks the Blue Ranger launched at her seemed slow and predictable. Diana became desperate and drew her sword. She struck faster and stronger blows at Lady Shiva, but unfortunately, Diana's enemy also saw these attacks coming. Lady Shiva knew she needed to get away from the other Rangers in order to defeat her and execute her move.
Diana followed Lady Shiva to the underground parking lot of the Gotham City Royal Hotel, accessing after Diana cut the door during the match. Lady Shiva kicked her towards the door, breaking the metal. Diana fell very hard, but got up.
Lady Shiva knew that she had to execute her plan now, so she drew a sword that she had kept on her back. Shiva attacked Diana in the same way, swift, unpredictable, and accurate blows that wore Diana down. When Diana tried to attack, Lady Shiva blocked the blow and gave Diana another in her stomach, driving her back.
"You're so predictable. The commander must have held you in high regard for you to be the Blue Ranger," Lady Shiva said, offending Diana and her Amazonian training.
She had always been trained in many forms of combat, but it was useless against this woman. It was difficult because she tried so hard for something that had not brought results. She lashed out again out of anger, but again, the attacks didn't work.
"I know you can do better if you join us," Shiva said blocking a blow.
"You are an enemy, and you have caused damage to the city. I would not join anyone like you," Diana said totally angry.
Lady Shiva stepped back and swung her sword up and down in a circular fashion.
"You could be better and you could even do this if you join us," Lady Shiva said.
As she said this, swords came out of nowhere, as if by magic. There were dozens of swords, and then, Shiva moved the sword forward and all the swords shot out at Diana. Seeing this, Diana was scared because they took her by surprise. She hated to be scared, but she steeled herself and used her sword to block all the blows.
Although she blocked several, many other swords hit her too many times. Tthe final blow was delivered by Lady Shiva who brandished her sword in front of Diana, striking her and defeating her. She fell and her suit disappeared.
"You see, you have been so poorly trained that you cannot defeat me, and if you cannot defeat me, you will never defeat the others," Lady Shiva said.
Diana clenched her hands. She was enraged by this humiliation.
"I am an Amazon. I've been trained to beat anyone. This can't be posible," Diana said.
"You have been defeated, and there is nothing you can do to defeat me. In our group, you could change that. You would be more appreciated and more loved than heres" she said as she crouched down, landing the fatal blow mentally.
This silenced Diana, who felt helpless.
"Diana!" Kal said running towards her accompanied by the other Rangers. They had already taken care of the ninjas. "Stay away from her," he said ready to trigger his heat vision.
"I'll give you time to decide," Lady Shiva said in a whisper before getting up and putting her sword away. "Well, this has been fun. Now, I'm going."
"You're not going," John said. However, more ninjas appeared.
"I think it's important to save your partner than to fight me, right?" Lady Shiva asked. "But if you want to face me again, I'll be on top of the Gotham City Royal Hotel."
She left, releasing a smoke bomb and they disappeared.
"Deactivate Powers." said the four Rangers as they returned to their regulation black uniforms and slowly lifted Diana, until she stood up and struggled not to be touched.
"Do not touch me. In the end, you don't care much," said Diana, moving away from them.
"Diana, that woman almost killed you, and you don't want any help?" Shayera asked.
"In the end, you did't tell me anything or look for me at all. You haven't wanted to talk to me all this time because I didn't reveal what I was hiding, so this is not important to you," Diana said, walking outside.
"If you had told us that ahead of time, I think our confidence would be different, but that's not what you did. You wanted to hide it," Kal said.
"Maybe she had a reason, Kal," John said. "I also had to hide that my wife was pregnant and that caused a fight that I managed to resolve. We should listen to that."
"You took too long to say something good. Now, I'm leaving," Diana said, leaving and taking the squad car and starting it.
"Who can take me on her motorcycle?" Shayera asked.
"I'll take you, but let me make a side cart," said John, believing it with his mind. Shayera got on and they all left. This was stressful.
XXX
13:30
"Rangers, what you guys faced was brutal," said the commander. "You did a good job fighting the ninjas, but you left the cadet Prince alone, and the so-called Lady Shiva almost killed her."
"I know we shouldn't have let Diana fight alone, Commander, but the way she attacked us was a very planned one," Shayera said.
"That's true. However, a great threat is attacking the city. Lady Shiva is a trained assassin who comes from a group we don't know what their name is. She left the cadet Prince alive. She must have had an ulterior motive," Commander Wayne said looking at Diana. "She said something to you?" He asked Diana, nervous.
Diana, instead, decided to deny it. "She didn't tell me anything. Now, I would like to leave so as not to be defeated again."
"Don't turn your back on me, cadet. We are facing an enemy worse than Deathstroke and Deadshot. Any information is very useful," said the commander.
"Too bad he didn't say anything to me" Diana said, leaving. This was the first time she had left. This was stressful and strange. It was the first time she had left a meeting in the conference room, and she was refusing to speak to anyone.
"This is not good. Lady Shiva told us that she would be at the top of the Gotham City Royal Hotel at noon. We must all go to beat her," John said.
"That's true cadets," said the commander. "Then it is decided, we will all go to stop Lady Shiva and stop her from causing damag."
He said this knowing that first he would have to talk to Diana and force her to go with them, but first he would have to solve the trust problems that they had delayed to solve. "In the meantime, we need to prepare for that showdown. Stand back, cadets," the commander ordered, and the Rangers obeyed.
XXX
16:30
The four Rangers went to rest and to eat, and then they went to train at the shooting range, the obstacle course. However, it was strange, as Diana was not present at any of the facilities. This worried them, so they looked for her in her room and in the dining room, but she was not there. She was not even with J'onn. So they went back to the conference room where the commander, as always, was sitting in his chair watching the criminal activity in the city.
"Commander, we have not seen Diana. Have you seen her? " Kal asked.
The commander turned in his chair after a few seconds, it seemed that he was out of focus. "She has been in the virtual training room for three hours," Commander Wayne replied.
"Do you know what she is doing?" John asked.
"It's very obvious, cadet. She is training with all her strength to defeat Lady Shiva," he answered simply. He was getting impatient with this situation.
"And why don't you do anything to stop her?" Shayera asked. "It's been there a long time."
"Because she is upset with herself and with us. She wants to vent," said the commander.
"Then we have to help her," Barry said.
"Then go," he said, wanting them to do something to solve this problem with Diana.
The Rangers went to the virtual training room, but before entering, they saw Diana without her jacket, only her blue shirt, her pants, her hair this time gathered in a ponytail, but you could see that she was a little tired and sweaty. Besides that, pure anger dominated her eyes.
"Now," Diana said and the room became the highest part of the Gotham City Royal hotel, and there was the dangerous Lady Shiva.
Again, Shiva did the newly discovered trick of the hundreds of swords. The swords began to arrive, and Diana had gained more speed, but she was still not as accurate with the others. She could block some, but not all. When the final blow of the attack came, Diana was distracted and received another blow. She fell and hit the ground. The Rangers finally came in and tried to help Diana.
"Don't touch me," Diana said getting up.
"Diana, you can't do this," Kal said. Wrong move. Diana pointed her sword at him.
"If you believe that, then go," Diana said.
"Diana, you're hurting yourself," John said.
"You picked the worst time to worry about me," Diana said, pointing the other sword at John.
"We don't trust you at all, Di, but we don't want you to hurt yourself," Barry said.
"You could have solved that before, but now, leave me alone," said Diana fed up with her teammates.
"Diana, stop training. We will face her again, and if you are hurt we would be at a great disadvantage," Shayera said, feeling guilty with herself. She could have acted too, but now, Diana was already very isolated from them.
"No. If I train and master her technique, it will be the biggest advantage. Now, go bother someone else" Diana said.
John thought about staying longer, but knew this wasn't going to lead anywhere, so he motioned for everyone to leave. Diana stayed and reprogrammed this.
"I have to tell you something," John said, stopping everyone in the process of going to the other side of the base.
They didn't think John would do anything to calm things down, as normally, he was the one who disagreed with something. "Diana is right. We have not been fair to her, and we have been very hard on her," he said. This was also strange. Normally, he and Diana were the ones who always fought, but now he was defending her.
"I think you're getting softer, Johnny. It's the first time you've defended Diana," Barry said.
"Stop joking and think about this," John said annoyed.
The Rangers did recognize him, even Kal. However, they still had mistrust due to her not telling them why she was hiding it.
"But do you know why she kept it from us?" Shayera asked.
"No. I don't know," John said. This frustrated the Rangers a bit, but she had to say it. "She will tell us that after we defeat Lady Shiva," he said quite confident and ready to go.
"Why until that time?" The three asked.
"Because like Shayera, when Diana is very angry, she is not going to want to talk or be reasonable, as she did with the Scarecrow," John replied.
"Oh, he's too conceited sometimes," Barry said with a sigh.
"Look who says it," says Shayera.
XXX
18:30
Diana had taken a twenty minute break by drinking some water and eating a light lunch, but had returned to training time and time again. She still needed too much to neutralize Lady Shiva's attack. During the break, she thought about the words the killer had said to her. Diana knew that others did not value her and did not trust her, but it felt more useless knowing that she had not yet mastered that attack. She was too furious to think clearly, and her confidence was down.
"I think you are already overheating," Commander Wayne said opening the door. He had been watching Diana since she started training since two in the afternoon. At first, he thought her anger would disappear while training, but he was wrong.
"Go away. I don't need distractions," Diana said, staying too angry.
"I'm not leaving, Cadet Prince. I let you train for hours without stopping and if you continue in this way, you'd better get ready to run a hundred laps around the perimeter," said the commander, hoping that this was enough to make her stop fighting.
"It is not right for you to interrupt my training in order to defeat a highly trained assassin with unnecessary punishment. She won't know what hit her when I beat her," Diana said turning her back to him.
"You are testing my patience, Princess," he said this nickname that she gave her to discover her intentions, in addition to drawing attention to her Ranger. "Listen well, cadet, you need to take a step back before facing someone like Lady Shiva a second time. It is obvious that she offered you something that sounds tempting."
The commander hoped that this would help. Sadly, she found another way to argue.
"You know her, right?" Diana asked. "You told us she was a trained assassin, but I think you are withholding information from us."
"No, and don't try to change the subject on me. You are facing a trained assassin who beat you up and you refused to let the others speak to you. Although I admit that you are within your right to be angry with them, but you have to accept our help."
"I will not do it. This is something I must do by myself, and I don't want you to interfere," Diana said, fed up with him as she pointed her sword at him.
"You are on a team, and even though others don't trust you, you are important to the team. I'm sure it offered you more appreciation and improving your technique, since that's what you've been trying to do all these hours. It is not very difficult to deduce it," said the commander, getting nervous.
"Well, you deduced wrong, I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it because I always believed that I was the best in Themyscira, and now I was defeated by a woman without powers even though the other enemies had not been a problem. You don't know what it's like to fight your whole life only for it to be for nothing," Diana said turning around.
"You can't do it, cadet. You need the team, and if you do it alone, you will fail, especially if it is against Lady Shiva," the commander said.
"You left Kal to his own devices against Deathstroke. I think I'm more qualified than him for this, Wayne," Diana said, for the first time calling him Wayne as disrespectful.
"He was sure he has strength and he was very calm. Lady Shiva has everything going for her. And the last thing I want is for you to be damaged by just your whim to be the best. I can't lose any of you," the commander said.
He had already opened up to her. After saying that, she had already calmed down. Now she knew that he was trying to keep her and the others safe, but she still wanted to beat Lady Shiva, so she knew what he had to say.
"I have to do this, Bruce. Not only for being the best, but I can beat her. Then, I am not suitable to be a Ranger. She would not be able to save anyone, and what happened to Minerva would be repeated. It would be a shame for this," Diana said. It still burned her to know that her friend had become a threat against her and against others.
"You cannot always save everyone, Princess. You are nowhere near a disgrace for this. None of you are. It's okay. Keep practicing, but make sure you don't damage the virtual training room or you'll have no way to beat it," he said, going to the door. "And by the way, we will go with you, no matter how much you complain."
"You're not doing well, Commander," J'onn said, waiting for him at the entrance to the conference room.
"I said what she needed to hear. We will go with her because with Lady Shiva you cannot take risks."
He hated taking risks. He preferred that he be the one who took risks before his Rangers. What happened to Deathstroke was something he was totally sure Kal would beat him to, but Diana was something out of the ordinary. She was challenging everything again, something that always rocked his world, and he was going to do everything to protect her.
"I do not deny that you want to protect the Rangers from what is attacking the city so that what happened with your previous Rangers does not happen again., but you're doing it the wrong way," J'onn said, trying to sound as diplomatic but firm as possible.
The commander wasn't ready for another discussion after his Blue Ranger had made him open up.
"I'm doing what I've always done with the other soldiers and rangers in the league. This is the only way to motivate them and keep them in check," said the commander.
"Commander, these Rangers are not them and you can't talk to them like you did to them. John is the one who does not disobey orders, but considers something unfair. Barry is charismatic, but needs motivation when he loses his way. Shayera needs companionship and let her know that we are her companions. Kal needs to be forced into something or do what you did with the sword to gain confidence, but Diana needs to know that you trust her to do something," J'onn concluded.
Like the commander, he had watched over and learned from the Rangers to help the commander when the commander was wrong in the way of operating with the Rangers.
"She needs to know that she cannot underestimate my authority, that we are a team and that everyone must stay safe," said the commander.
"Diana knows you are a team. She respects you and knows that you are the authority here, but she doesn't need you to tell her she can't. For her to do it, she needs us to believe that she can do it. You better put it into practice," J'onn said, leaving.
The commander just sat and thought about the words of his scientist and Diana. In the end, she did take her role as a Ranger seriously, but she was hard to deal with. This was difficult, but he was going to put into practice making the team believe in her, in his own way.
XXX
1:00
Diana continued training until one in the morning. Obviously she had taken some breaks of fifteen minutes each. She was only frustrated that she still hadn't gotten over Lady Shiva's final attack in the training room. She made up her mind, once again, another try.
"Now," she said again, and the attack began again.
Lady Shiva appeared and made the circular motion to bring all the swords. She moved the sword to the front and all the swords shot out at Diana.
Before the attack began, she gripped her swords very tightly and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a second, and when they opened, she began to execute her movements. She did it so fast, and so certain that the swords landed on the side or shot into the air, but fell elsewhere. When Lady Shiva executed her last attack with the frontal strike, Diana moved very precisely and quickly, slicing the sword in half.
Diana took a deep breath. She couldn't believe it, but she had finally managed to do it. She had managed to stop Lady Shiva's infallible attack, and was ready to strike. She was so relieved, but she knew that just one time wouldn't be enough. However, she needed to rest.
Since it was now midnight, she decided to fall asleep in the virtual training room so that she could train once she woke up. She now had to train a few more times, and then she would defeat Lady Shiva, that is if her companions didn't interfere.
NEXT: THE BLUE RANGER DUEL, PART 2.
Well, I want tos ay, Happy New Year 2021 to all of you. I know this year has been complicated, hard, difficult, but we are still alive and we must continue living. Let's hope this be our year for #WonderBat. Don't forget to write in the Social Networks #WonderBat2021 and #ReleaseTheWonderBat.