THE BIG THREAT, PART 1.

Unknown location.

He had been waiting for Lady Shiva's return for a week, and in those seven days. He was beginning to get impatient. Lady Shiva would not take a week to fulfill an order, maybe three days máximum. She would review the plan that she would implement once she returned with the subject that he had ordered her to bring. Her settling a score with Commander Wayne was something she had been waiting for since that incident years ago.

Fortunately, Lady Shiva had returned accompanied by a skinny, rather short man who was wearing a black trench coat and hat. The trench coat covered his entire body and his hat covered his face. It was time to put the plan into action.

"Master, I have returned with the man you asked me to bring," said Lady Shiva, kneeling in front of him.

"I never expected you to call me," said the man to Lady Shiva's master.

"I think it was time for you to come back here. Practically, you are one of the greatest challenges Wayne has ever faced," said the master, placing much emphasis on Wayne.

It caused a rather surprising reaction in the man in the raincoat. He had a past in Zone C, and he had a cdn meeting with Commander Wayne. At first he thought he had quit after his encounter, but he needed to corroborate that Wayne was still a Ranger.

"Are you telling me that Wayne still works in Zone C, even after what I did to him?" asked the man in the trench coat.

"Not exactly, but you have another chance to break him for good. There's a new squad of Power Rangers in Zone C, and Wayne's leading them. If you go there, then you can take him and the other Rangers out," he said.

"You know I'm doing this because I hate Wayne, and I want you to pay me back with more Poison once I make it," said the man in the raincoat. "It's not because I like you."

"I'm just asking you to go and do what I told you to do," said the master.

"I'm going," said the man in the raincoat before he left.

"Let's hope he's enough to finish off Wayne and the others," said Lady Shiva as she returned to her master's side.

"He should be enough. You know that Wayne never gives up personal matters. After what happened before, nothing can stop him," said the very confident master, for all the right reasons.

XXX

Zone C base. 12:30

"Let's see, haven't you found anything else about him?" asked Kal.

"No, I've been looking for half an hour, but neither the Internet nor the database has thrown up anything about Wayne," Shayera said, somewhat annoyed. Not only had Kal been told to search for information about Commander Wayne, but John and Barry had also been doing so for the past half hour with the same result.

"I can't believe we have the best team to stop criminals with extraordinary abilities, but we can't find information about our commander," Barry said.

"Well, after all these days, I think the commander purposefully blocked the information on this base so no one would find it," John said. This was a very logical thing to do, but he couldn't find the purpose for which the commander was withholding information.

"Well Shayera, stop looking. If we don't find anything about the commander here, maybe we can find something about him somewhere else," Diana said. She was also frustrated that she could not find information that would reveal the commander's current status.

For the past week, Commander Wayne had been training them as hard as he could. The biggest example of which was punishing anyone who dared to interrupt him while he was speaking in the conference room. Those who had paid the most were Kal, Diana and Barry; Kal because he was beginning to get fed up with how hard he was on them, Diana because she wanted to know what he was hiding, and Barry because he couldn't help but joke around to lighten the mood.

Also, training was harder and more demanding. The obstacle course now had additional obstacles to hold on to the precipice using only their fingers and a magnetic wall to which stones fell to hold on every two seconds. The climb was bigger and they had to go through a three meter fence. While combat training was longer, it forced them to have one limb tied to the body so they could not use it and in others it blindfolded them so they trusted more in their instincts.

"Seriously, if this week is any harder, I don't think I can take another one," Kal said.

"I can overcome it because my metabolism is accelerated, but yes, this is too much to ask," Barry said.

"I think these trainings are helping us, even though the commander is overdoing it," John said.

"I think if he keeps pushing us too hard we won't be able to fight well," said Shayera.

"I like this training because it is similar to my Amazon education, but my mother was not so tough. Even she knew when it was enough. The commander has been squeezing more out of us than he should," Diana added, being happy and upset at the same time. On the one hand, she was happy that her companions were treating her well after several weeks of applying an icy wall.

It was something that at first she didn't think would be necessary for her, mainly because when she met them she wasn't very sure whether to trust them or not. She still saw them as people or beasts who only wanted to fight, including the Commander.

Over time, the Commander saw that they all had virtues and that women could also be very bad, especially after facing Lady Shiva. He still saw that they found it very hard to take the role of Rangers seriously. On the other hand, she was upset that the Commander was very much involved in not telling them about the great threat they were facing. She had even gone to the conference room to see if she could convince him to say so, but whenever she went, he wasn't there. He wasn't even in J'onn's lab.

"What do you think we should do? I don't want to confront him, but I can't let him keep making demands on us," Kal asked. He wanted guidance with this matter.

"I think that if he steps out of line one more time, we should all push him," said John.

"I'm with you, Johnny," said Barry. "It's not good for him to squeeze us like this."

"So am I. It seems like every time he faces a challenge he gets angry, and that's fine, but he can't treat us like this," said Shayera.

"Well said, Shayera. He must tell us why. He can't hide forever, just like me," Diana said, recalling the bad experience the five of them had when they learned her secret in Themyscira.

"Rangers, to the virtual training room," Commander Wayne ordered over the loudspeakers.

"Oh, here we go again," Barry said running. The other Rangers followed.

The Rangers went to the virtual training room. There they found Commander Wayne in his classic upright and unyielding stance. His face was still too tight, showing that he was in a very delicate emotional state.

"It's time for the next training session, cadets," said Commander Wayne. "You better get through this training, otherwise it's obviously going to cost you more than I thought to become a Power Ranger."

However, he had not set high expectations for himself. The training they had received was to improve their agility and instincts, such as fighting people by shooting them or handling simultaneous attacks, or running at full speed in a collapsing building which was hard enough in itself.

"Just wait and see, commander," Diana said.

"Yes, you'll see that we'll win this time," Shayera said.

"Then let's get started. Justice League, activate," said the commander becoming the Dark Ranger.

"Justice League, activate," said the other five Rangers and they transformed. Then the virtual training room became a frozen lake in the snowy mountains.

"Is this a joke? I've never done this," Kal said, hoping the Commander would change the environment.

"None of us have ever done this," said John, siding with Kal. In fact, he didn't want to move because he was beginning to fear falling, even though he knew this was a simulation.

"How do you expect us to do this?" Shayera asked. She hadn't had to go through such hard training either.

"Even in Themyscira they didn't teach me this," Diana said. She always trained on hard ground, grass, an ocean shore fight or an island tour, but never on ice.

"I don't worry. I'm very fast and I can walk on the ice without any problems," Barry said. For the first time, he felt more confident than the others.

"It doesn't matter if you've done it or not. You're here to train and enhance their skills. Now, attack all at once. Dark Sword, ready to attack" said the Dark Ranger drawing his trusty sword.

"Are you sure you want that?" Kal asked.

In the past, the Commander always asked everyone to attack individually or in groups of two or three at most before he ordered everyone to do so, but all at once at the beginning of the training was something new. Besides the fact that they were going to do it on ice, they felt more confident now that they were a team again.

"Of course, you need to be prepared for anything. For your information, you can't create a jetpack or fly, so don't try it, Cadet Stewart," said the commander, knowing that his Green Ranger had thought about doing this, but was stopped in time.

"Well, then, let's attack, but slowly," Kal ordered.

The Rangers nodded their heads and went to attack the Dark Ranger. Diana, as she usually did, drew her sword while Barry ran to the Dark Ranger hoping that his attack would have effect. To his dismay, a piece of ice fell before Barry realized it and he fell into the water.

"This is ice, and it will continue to break with every second that passes. Since you fell, you are out," said the Dark Ranger moving too slowly, taking care not to step too hard.

When Diana saw this, she was furious because she was at a great disadvantage. The Commander was practically making fun of them. She walked as fast and carefully as possible towards him and threw three quite fast and precise blows - a benefit obtained after her duel against Lady Shiva. However, the Commander blocked the three blows and stabbed her in the leg before a kick that threw her a few meters. Fortunately, the ice where she feel did not break. Shehe rolled and stood up pretty fast and started walking.

On the other hand, Shayera and Kal were walking very calmly and looking at the ground, while John created a platform just for him so that, if the ice broke, he would not fall into the water. This was so frustrating, but stressful at the same time. They never thought their Commander would challenge them so hard, and he seemed to enjoy this humiliating experience.

Shayera, seeing that he was nearby, pulled out her gun and shot the Dark Ranger. Unfortunately, the Dark Ranger dodged the first shots, and even returned one to Shayera, knocking her down. This time, the ice did break.

Kal became desperate and shot his heat vision, causing the commander to jump again. He threw a small explosive, but he dodged it and shot it again, this time into the ice. The Dark Ranger saw it coming and swerved to the side, avoiding falling into the water by inches.

"Good attack, but you can see that the ice is beginning to melt," said the Dark Ranger, pointing to the ground where Kal was standing, making him move.

"Cadet Stewart, standing still is not going to help you," the Dark Ranger said, this time pointing to John who was trying to stay focused so that the platform he created would not fade away.

John knew that he couldn't stand still, but he also knew that the Dark Ranger would find a way to attack him unless he did something very unexpected. He created a shark to attack him underwater. This really took the Dark Ranger by surprise.

Thanks to John's gestures, he knew that he would launch an attack, so he stepped aside and started running towards his green Ranger. John saw it and created metal beams that fell in the path of the Dark Ranger who managed to blind him again against smoke bombs. John looked around, and managed to see him before the Commander threw a boomerang-like thing that was blocked when he created his protective bubble.

Kal got fed up and jumped as far as he could, but the Commander threw a remote charging device at him, a device he rarely used. The device knocked Kal down, and because of the height, the fall was so hard that the ice broke and he fell into the water.

Diana grabbed her sword again and ran to the Dark Ranger on tiptoe. She was being patient with the ice, but she also wanted to pass this test. When she reached him, she threw a punch into the Dark Ranger's chest before hitting him in the shoulder, but he hit her in the ribs followed by another stab in the stomach.

Diana backed off and threw quick punches, hoping he would dodge them. He did dodge them, so she prepared to throw a frontal blow with her sword, but the Dark Ranger dodged it, mostly. It hit her hand and her sword was thrown a few feet away. He knew this was an opportunity to beat her, so he ran to the Dark Sword and ducked, but Diana put her foot on the sword, so he couldn't lift it. Diana did give him several stabs and knocked him down. She felt satisfied that she had beaten this man who, after several months, had made her feel comfortable, excited, confident, and sometimes frustrated and angry.

"I think the exercise is over, Commander," Diana said, pointing her sword at him.

"You did what I wanted you to do. You sacrificed the most important thing to follow me, and now..." said the Commander before the ice where Diana was standing broke. She fell into the water with her sword. "...you are out" said the Commander going to John, who was the only one standing because of the platform he created.

"Let's see if you can handle three sharks now," John said, using his hand to get the sharks to the Dark Ranger.

The Dark Ranger fired his remote electric charging device into the water and into John, hitting the wáter. Being blocked by John caused him to become distracted, so he took the opportunity to shoot his claw at the platform to get it closer to him. John took advantage of this and jumped up to hit him with a mallet, but did not see that he had fired his claw again, hitting his foot and throwing him to the ground where it broke and fell into the water.

"And the exercise is over," said the Dark Ranger as the frozen lake became the virtual training room. "The word I seek is passable. Disable powers," he said, placing much emphasis on the passable and becoming Commander Wayne again.

"Disable Powers," said the five frustrated Rangers.

"You've been doing this a long time, Commander. We are not trained," Diana said.

"You're supposed to be an Amazon warrior and you make stupid excuses," said Commander Wayne.

"She's right, Commander," said Kal.

"You wanted to give us a test you knew we couldn't meet," Barry said.

"You were too impatient. And in an environment like that, it always costs you something," said the Commander, approaching his yellow Ranger very aggressively and rudely.

"But you're more trained than we are. You already knew what to do. It was unfair," John said.

"Training isn't everything, Cadets. The enemy doesn't wait until you're prepared and trained, and they're more than happy to take advantage of a situation like this. They look for any advantage. And if they keep this up, you're going to end up in a coffin, and I hope that doesn't happen. Be thankful that that was a simulation, because in reality, you wouldn't have lasted a minute," the Commander said, practically yelling in their faces.

"Commander," Kal said.

Even though the Commander was right up to a point, he was still pushing them, and he was already too stressed out to take any more of this behavior. "We understand that, but I'm sick of you treating us like we're incompetent or clumsy, and we're not," he said, hoping that the others would join in, and lucky for him, they did.

"We need you to tell us by this behavior is so hard. We deserve to know that," Diana said. Now she was the one pushing him.

"We don't know if you're keeping a secret or not, but if you are, you better tell us," John said.

"Seriously, this is stressful and if you tell us we can lighten the load," said Barry.

"It's not fair to keep the information to yourself," said Shayera.

"I'm not keeping any secrets, and you better learn from this experience, or I'll double the training. Dismissed cadets," the Commander ordered.

The Rangers reluctantly left, but had no idea that, in a short time, the great threat would strike.

XXX

13:10

Half an hour after the ice training in the virtual room, the man in the raincoat who had agreed to work for Ra's Al Ghul had arrived in Zone C. He knew he must have attracted attention. The Power Rangers and Commander Wayne would come for him soon. So, like any criminal, he pulled out a machine gun and began shooting everywhere, causing people to flee in fear and fright.

In the end, some policemen near the area saw him and threatened him, telling him to drop his gun and turning himself in, but the man kept shooting at them. One ran across the street and got behind him. This time, the man stopped shooting and raised his hands, but not before touching a button he had hidden under his left sleeve.

Once this had been done, the man in the raincoat threw himself to the ground with his hands on his head on the order of the policeman. Before he could be handcuffed, the man grabbed his hands and dislocated them without much effort before throwing him into the air at the policeman who was still aiming at him.

"Attention, we need help to arrest a very strong criminal. We need the Power Rangers," one of the guards said over his radio. Fortunately, the transmission was received.

XXX

Base of the Zone C.

The alarm sounded, Commander Wayne and J'onn calling the Rangers who arrived in the conference room half a minute later.

"Rangers, criminal with superhuman strength in Coventry," Major Wayne said. "Be careful, this guy may have something hidden." This time, the Rangers just nodded and went to the hangar for their vehicles.

When they arrived, they saw the man in the raincoat who still had his hat on.

"Stop right there. We are the Power Rangers. You better surrender if you don't want to be hurt," Kal said.

"Wow, so you're the new Power Rangers despite what happened years ago in Zone C. However, I'm not here for you. I'm here for Wayne," said the man in the raincoat, holding his machine gun on his shoulder.

Obviously this got the attention of the Rangers. He must have known something about what happened in Zone C. That must be why he wanted to attact Commander Wayne.

"What do you want with the commander?" Diana asked.

"That's none of your business, Rangers. Get him over here or I'll break all of you," he threatened, pointing his machine gun at them.

"We won't do that. He's the one giving the orders," said John, creating a machine gun with his mind.

"Besides, if you want to see him so badly, you can come with us to find out," Shayera said.

"I'm not going to give up, but if you want to play, you'll see that I'm your death."

This generated confusion since they did not know how to speak Spanish. They didn't have much time to process it because he started shooting at them. John started shooting at him while Barry ran at him and hit him with the machine gun.

"You can't win easily against the fastest Ranger," Barry said.

"Of course I can," said the man, taking off his raincoat and hat before throwing them at John.

He revealed himself to be a skinny, somewhat short man with a slightly fitted black dress, a black mask with white lines and red eyes with green wires coming out of his arms. Behind him was a kind of machine with green tubes. In itself, this appearance made Barry burst out laughing because he didn't think anyone looking like that would be so threatening.

Just before Barry could do something, he pressed the button on his left arm. From one moment to the next, the criminal became stronger, more muscular and much taller. Once transformed, the man ran towards John who continued to shoot him with his machine gun, but it had no effect.

When the big guy came towards him, John transformed himself into the Green Ranger just like the other four did and created big muscular arms to fight him. That worked for about five seconds before he broke them and punched him hard in the face and stomach before grabbing him by one leg and slamming him to the ground.

The big guy would have done a lot worse if it had been for Barry running up and punching him three times in the face that he couldn't block. It gave Diana enough time to take John away. Before Barry threw another punch, Bane hit the ground and sent debris flying that hit Barry.

Kal shot him with his heat vision, knocking Bane down. Kal approached him and began hitting him in the face and chest. However, the big guy had great resistance. He gave Kal a hard blow on the chest that made him back down before the criminal could press the button on his arm again. He gained great strength once more. The criminal became like a bull, chasing Kal around before he hit the ground to make him tremble.

At that moment, Kal and Diana made a combined attack against the big guy. He was very strong at the level of the two Rangers, but Diana had more combat training. The blows were somewhat slow, allowing her to easily block them while Kal hit him in the face to knock him down.

"Shayera, attack now," Kal commanded.

Shayera at that time had been aiming at the big guy, but she couldn't find the right moment. She was afraid she could hurt others if she missed the target. With Kal's order, she jumped after the criminal and electrocuted him on the back, stopping him for a few seconds before the big guy grabbed her and threw her at Kal and Diana. The criminal would have attacked them if not for the explosive boom that was aimed at his chest. The Rangers turned around and saw the Dark Ranger running without his sword.

"Commander, what are you doing here?" asked Kal.

"Don't intervene," replied the Dark Ranger, jumping and kicking the criminal who was blocked by his strong, large arms. He had to retreat by taking a somersault backwards.

"Well, well, Wayne. I never thought you'd wear that color. I thought my defeat left you scarred forever," the criminal said in a mocking tone as he took up his fighting position.

"Silence. I'm going to beat you and send you to that cell that has had your name on it for many years," said the Dark Ranger in the same aggressive, rude tone he had used with his Rangers a few minutes ago.

For the first time, without thinking, the Dark Ranger just attacked the big guy giving all the hits he wanted, but with little effect. The criminal launched big hits that were dodged.

"Commander, we must help him," said Kal.

"What part of 'do not intervene' do you not understand? Stay there," the Dark Ranger ordered without looking them in the eye.

Using all his fury, he threw a big punch to the criminal's jaw before kicking him in the chin, but the criminal grabbed him by the arm and gave him a big punch in the stomach before squeezing his arm, making him scream.

"Then you have new pawns who will help you and then you will throw them away like the first ones," said the criminal bringing the Dark Ranger close to his face.

"Don't talk about them," said the Dark Ranger pulling out a smoke bomb that only made the criminal grab it and hit him with it.

Luckily for the Dark Ranger, Barry had recovered and hit Bane twice, causing him to release the Dark Ranger so that John could pull him away with a wire he had created. Shayera struck again with her gun, hitting the criminal in the chest before electrocuting him and causing a small explosion.

Diana attacked later, hitting the criminal in the legs. She made him fall to his knees before she drew her sword and wielded three blows before he stopped her Kal was the last to attack, using again his heat vision while running towards him so he could hit him in the chest, in the stomach and then in the chin with an ascending hook. Finally, Kal altered and landed behind him. He used his heat vision, which began to break down the apparatus used by the criminal.

The criminal, knowing he was about to be defeated, used his remaining strength and shook the ground again, distracting the Rangers for a short time.

"This is too hot. You'll see me again soon, Rangers. And Ra's sends his regards," said the criminal before firing a blinding grenade and disappearing instantly.

The Rangers thought of going after him, but they stayed with their Commander who was holding his right arm.

"You should not have interfered," said the Dark Ranger. Diana tried to touch his arm to see the damage, but he walked away quite quickly. "Don't touch me. Now let's get back to the base," he ordered, getting up and going to the patrol car.

"I think it's time to put more pressure on him to tell us what's going on," John said as they began to move to the vehicles. Although his suit had protected him, he was somewhat sore from the blows the criminal had given him. "And thank you, folks. I'm sure that guy would have done a lot worse to me if you hadn't helped."

"At least you are grateful," said Shayera.

"Yes, but I hope this will help you tell us what's going on," said Barry.

"For now, let's go to the base," said Kal.

XXX

The way back to the base was quite quiet. The commander did not stop holding his sore arm while the Rangers drove to the hangar. Upon arrival, everyone went to the medical wing where J'onn checked the Commander and the other Rangers. Fortunately, John only had to put a few bandages on his stomach and avoid talking much because his jaw started to hurt when he got to the hangar. Meanwhile, the other Rangers only had a few scratches so they didn't need any treatment. As luck would have it, Commander Wayne had a sore arm, so he would have to be careful if he went back into combat. He bandaged his arm to ease the pain. As the Commander did this, Kal spoke up.

"Commander, who was that guy?" Kal asked.

"You knew him and I can tell that you know him," added Shayera.

"And who is Ra's?" asked Diana.

"The one we are facing is called Bane. He is too strong a man because of that device that spreads a substance known as Venom. That's all," replied the Commander, finishing bandaging his arm.

"Won't you tell us who Ra's is or how he knows you?" asked Kal.

"No. That's not important. What is important is that I beat him while you stay here," the Commander ordered.

"Well, now who is the one hiding?" Diana asked.

"You cannot hide the truth from us, Commander. If something is going on, we deserve to know," said John.

"No, and you still disobeyed me when I told you not to interfere. I hope this time you will comply with your order," he said as he left the medical wing for the conference room.

J'onn left as well, but because he wanted to tell him the most obvious thing: it was time to tell them what was going on.

"We should go with him," Shayera suggested.

"I don't know, I don't think he'll tell us if we keep pushing him," said John as he rubbed his sore jaw.

"John, he must tell us. If not, then we don't understand why this is happening," said Kal.

"We can't confront someone if we don't know what it is," added Diana.

Barry was able to say something, but he agreed that Commander Wayne should tell them who they were fighting and what their relationship was to him.

"Well, let's go," said John, rising slowly to avoid speaking.

In the conference room, Commander Wayne was sitting in his chair while J'onn kept telling him that he should tell the Rangers the truth. This time, he kept his back turned.

"You know, if you don't tell them, they'll leave Zone C," J'onn said.

"No. If I don't tell them, curiosity will keep them here as long as necessary," said Commander Wayne, still with his back turned.

"No. They're not the ones you had, and you've treated them too hard these days. They're going to leave if you don't tell them," J'onn said, putting his hand on his shoulder. "And with that arm, I don't think you can beat him if he attacks today." He hoped this would make him see how complicated the situation was.

"I'll manage," he replied by removing J'onn's hand from his shoulder. Before J'onn could speak again, the Rangers entered.

"Commander, we're here to demand that you tell us what's going on," Kal said as he stood in the resting position as did the other Rangers.

"I have nothing to say. Don't question my orders, and leave. You need to rest for the next mission," he said, gesturing to leave.

"You're afraid to say it," Diana said, being the bravest in the squadron when it came to dealing with the Commander.

This caused the Commander to turn around and face his blue Ranger, even though he didn't know she had made him face them. For some reason, Diana always managed to get him to show more than just coldness. He did this without saying anything that Diana thought he would say.

"Commander, we have not liked that you continue to treat us as useless every time something bothers you. If there is something very strong behind the so-called Bane, someone called Ra's and what Dick is doing to us, you should tell us," Shayera said.

"I don't want to work as a Ranger in a place like this, Commander," said Barry, being firm but somewhat shy.

"What are you saying, Cadets?" he asked, shouting.

"That if you don't tell us what's going on, then we'd better leave until you're willing to confess what's going on," John said in a firm, sore tone.

"So tell us or we'll leave," said Kal, hoping that this would be the last straw.

Commander Wayne accepted that J'onn was right, turning his back on them again. They couldn't stand curiosity. They weren't like the others, and now he had to say it. He hated it. He was going to take the biggest risk once he told them the hard truth, but his Rangers were already threatening to leave.

He looked at J'onn, and saw that he was telling him with his hands that he had to speak up now. However, as it took quite some time, the Rangers let out a sigh and were about to leave when he finally spoke.

"I never told the whole story of Dick Grayson," said Commander Wayne in a whisper that was barely heard by the five Rangers who had turned away, confused and intrigued at the same time.

"What did you say?" Kal asked, approaching the Commander with the other four who still had his back turned.

"I didn't tell you the whole story of Dick Grayson. He was the blue Ranger from Zone C..." he said this even with his back turned.

He hated having to say this. It was the greatest shame not only for him but for the area he was defending. And once he told them this, the fate of Zone C would depend on a thread. "He was the blue Ranger..." He said turning around to show that he was being honest. "...because I was the Red Ranger."

NEXT: THE BIG THREAT, PART 2.