A LITTLE GAME, PART 2.
21:00
The Rangers returned to base in their vehicles. Kal used his motorcycle, so Diana and Shayera had to use the bikes while J'onn returned to drive the remote commander's car. This was something new for the three Rangers that had not been kidnapped.
Upon returning, the base was calm because J'onn had not announced that the commander had been kidnapped. It was better that they did not know to prevent everything from turning into chaos. Already, two more Rangers had been kidnapped, so this made the most sense.
To avoid being asked questions by onlookers, they ran to the conference room where J'onn was at the table. He was too calm for the critical situation that was occurring.
"J'onn, this is serious," Kal said, very nervous. "For the first time, I don't know what to do, and neither John nor the commander are here to tell me anything because they've been kidnapped."
"What is going to happen? How do we find them before he hurts them?" Diana asked, showing anxiety and anger at the same time.
"There must be something we can do, J'onn," Shayera said, keeping her cool in front of everyone, although internally she wanted to smash Humpty Dumpty's face. The experience of disobeying the commander and going to solve the problem with the Scarecrow had made her stop showing her desperation, at least for now.
"Rangers, I need you to calm down," J'onn said.
Obviously, he was worried too, but he was already prepared for extreme situations. This was one more day of work for him. "The situation is risky," J'onn told them. "When the commander was captured, I thought he had activated a tracker, but there is no signal which means that Humpty Dumpty must have seen him coming, searched for it, found it and destroyed it."
"So there is nothing we can do?" Shayera asked, this time angry.
"Not exactly," J'onn replied. "The commander and I investigated the possible whereabouts of Humpty Dumpty, and all we got was the address of a deceased relative's home located on Park Row. The commander was about to send you to that place before the attack. Maybe there you will find some clue of his whereabouts. I already sent it to your motorcycles and vehicles," J'onn said. That was true, although he did not mention that no data on Humphrey Dumbler could be found unless you included Humpty Dumpty.
"Well, let's go then," Kal said.
"Wait, can't we go on John and Barry's bikes?" Diana asked.
"I would recommend the patrol car for you, but I'm sure that even if I say that, you will take the bikes," J'onn said with a mischievous smile.
"Okay then, let's go," Diana and Shayera said at the same time.
The three Rangers rode their motorcycles to the home of the criminal's deceased relative. For the two Rangers girls, this ride was a good one as they were finally able to use the bikes that John and Barry never let them ride. Worse, the sense of calm disappeared when they arrived at the house. It was the average house with two stories, a basement, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room, a kitchen, and a living room.
"Stop, let me check if he's here to ambush us," Kal said.
The two girls nodded as he used his super vision to examine the entire house. To the Rangers' misfortune, there was no one there. "Clear, and not only that, but there is nothing in the romos. There is nothing that helps us find him," he said with a frustrated sigh as he went to his motorcycle. "I think we will have to go back to the base and tell J'onn that there is nothing."
"No, we can't go, Kal. There may be something there, and it is better to check it thoroughly because it is our only chance to find Barry and the others," Shayera told him, showing her determination.
"Okay, let's go," Kal said, surprised by the great fury she was only showing for Barry. Diana was also surprised, but also happy that she was being tougher, but in a better way than before.
After checking that the door was closed, Kal tore off the handle and pushed the door open. The Rangers entered the house and saw that there was no furniture anywhere. They searched the upper rooms and the first floor, but there was nothing they could use as a clue to find Humpty Dumpty.
"If Barry were here, he would have searched the house in a minute or less," Shayera said.
"That's true," Kal agreed.
"We'd better search the basement," Shayera said.
In the center of the basement, the white light of the electric bulb illuminated a green table, which was the same that Humpty Dumpty used to put his little toy soldiers on as a harbinger of what was going to happen.
Not only that, but on one side of the room was a giant lead soldier's head and breastplate, just like the lead soldiers who served as a prison for the people Humpty Dumpty wanted revenge on.
"We can't find anything. There's nothing to help us find him," Shayera said.
"It's not possible. There has to be something to help us find them," Diana said.
"J'onn, we've come to Humpty Dumpty's relative's house, but there's nothing to help us find him," Kal said, calling him with his Morpho.
"Is there really nothing there?" J'onn asked, finding this fact somewhat strange.
"No, just pieces of the lead soldiers that were not used," he replied.
"Use your Morpho again and examine those pieces," J'onn ordered.
Kal obeyed the order and put his Morpho in position. The analysis lasted two minutes.
"Ready, Kal. We may not have a clue, but I think I have a new weapon to develop," J'onn said.
"Well, let's go," Kal said.
"No, we cannot go back to base. There has to be something here that will help us," Shayera said.
"I think there is nothing here that can serve us, Shayera," Kal said.
"I agree with Kal, Shayera," Diana said. "I can't find anything here that will serve us, but I do want to save our companions."
"There must be something here," Shayera said, despairing and even kicking the table with her foot, breaking it in half.
"Shayera, calm down," Kal said, putting his hand on her shoulder. This did calm Shayera, at least for a few seconds. "I'm still worried about this, but destroying a table doesn't help."
"You're right, Kal," she said, moving her gaze from her until she saw something in a corner where the light barely reached and a brick hid it. Shayera went to that corner, removed the brick, and saw what was hidden.
"What is it?" Diana asked.
"It's a white castle like the one they usually put in cheesy princess movies," Shayera replied before realizing that she had said something wrong. "Ah, don't be offended, Diana."
"Well, I think it's better to go back to base. We wasted enough time already," Kal said.
The two Rangers knew they had to go back to base. Quite frustrated, they climbed the stairs and went to their bikes.
However, upon returning to base, they went to J'onn's lab. It would not be smart to hear that the scientist would make a new weapon and go to the conference room expecting to find him there.
"J'onn, we are here," Kal said.
"Good, because that analysis of those pieces of explosive casings gave me the clue I needed to create this," J'onn said, pulling out three pistols quite very different from the ones they were carrying. He handed one to each of the Rangers. "I know they look like simple pistols, Rangers, but these have special bullets. They will have to fire towards the lead soldiers. In doing so, they will fire a frequency wave that will deactivate the explosive casing, so there will be no risk of explosion. Unfortunately, for the short time I have had, each pistol has ten bullets. Use them well."
"But where can we go?" Kal asked. "We don't know where it may be."
"Is there a castle in this city?" Shayera asked.
"Let me look it up," J'onn said.
He never left the base, but he knew a lot about the city from all the regions that he had memorized with all the other missions. Unfortunately, he did not know anything about the outskirts of the city, so he assumed that the castle that Shayera mentioned must be there.
He was not mistaken. "Yes, there is a castle on the southern outskirts of the city that was used to do outdoor works, but it was discontinued with the increase in crime. We assumed that it had been abandoned, and that is the reason why there are no security cameras there," he said without taking his eyes off his electronic table.
"Do you really think it would be a good idea to go there? We're not at all sure they're there," Diana said.
"It's the only clue we have," Shayera replied. "That is why I'm convinced that he will be there."
"Now you look like the commander when he thinks that he may be wrong to play with a small probability," J'onn said somewhat amused to see that Shayera had a similar behavior to their commander.
"Speaking of the commander, I think this would not have happened if he had let us help him," she told J'onn.
"Maybe, maybe not, Shayera," J'onn said. "But he always investigates because he's very good at it, but not because he doesn't trust you."
"If he trusts us, then he should let us help him," Shayera said, showing more anger.
"I agree. We can't wait all the time for him to just investigate each case while we sit still. We can learn more from that, but he won't let us," Diana said.
"It is true that he does not let you do more than just fight criminals. Although, I think he's waiting for the right moment for you to help him," J'onn said.
"Well, he's taking too long," Shayera said.
"I don't think it is so necessary for us to participate in the investigations. I mean he makes almost no mistakes, and the only time we helped was when he didn't want to help us with the ghost knight, with Barry and the arsonists, and when Diana helped identify Clayface," Kal said.
"That's because he wanted it that way, so it wouldn't be a bad thing if we got more involved in it," Shayera said.
"I think the same. I want to help more, but not only to fight criminals," Diana said.
"Well, then you can tell him after you rescue him because we've already wasted time here," J'onn said, reminding them that they still had to rescue him, John, and Barry.
"It's true. So let's go to that castle," Kal said.
"Remember to use those ten bullets wisely," J'onn said. "And be careful. You are about to get into his game," he warned.
"We will, J'onn," Shayera said.
XXX
21:40
The three Rangers made their way on their motorcycles. They were quite nervous as they went to the castle on the outskirts of the city. The road was long, and if it weren't for the sound of the motorcycles, it would have been a stressful silence.
Just as J'onn had said, Shayera was hoping she was right, but at the same time she feared she was wrong, just as the commander did when she had to make a difficult decision with some mission. Meanwhile, Diana and Kal hoped that she was correct so that they could save her friends and the commander, although the frustration of the two Ranger girls at being excluded from the investigation process was still latent.
Upon arriving at the castle, the three of them were surprised to see that even though the castle hadn't been used in a long time, it seemed like it had been cared for and maintained since it had been abandoned. It seemed that time had never passed in that place. In addition, another detail that attracted attention was that, in front of the castle, there were two armies of giant lead soldiers. One army was yellow and the other green.
However, what no one saw except Kal was that on the upper floor of the castle was the same criminal with a giant egg-shaped head with a machine gun in his hands.
"My, my, my. Look who has appeared in my castle. The three remaining Rangers, and just when I thought they weren't going to be able to find me," Humpty Dumpty said, this time without giving a maniacal laugh.
"That was thanks to Shayera," Kal said.
"Yes, now that we are here, we will free our companions," Diana said.
"Unless you want to get hit," Shayera said.
"I told them they had to find me, but I never said I'd give up, not without you guys playing my little game," Humpty Dumpty said, waving his machine gun at the armies of lead soldiers. "Which begins ... now."
He fired his machine gun at the center of the battlefield which caused the two armies of lead soldiers to start firing at each other. "The rules are simple—rescue your companions who are inside the soldiers if you do not want them to fly through the air." This time he did let out his maniacal laugh at the end of his sentence.
"Justice League, actívate," Kal, Diana and Shayera said at the same time, transforming before his eyes.
The three Rangers ran to the lead soldier armies, but unfortunately, one soldier from each side had already exploded. However, there were no human traces.
"That's right, Rangers. Which one has the yellow one, and which one has the green one, but the most important thing is… if they can find them before they fall apart," he said pointing the machine gun at them before firing.
This made things more difficult for the Rangers, who drew the guns with special bullets. They dodged the shots from the criminal along with those from the lead soldiers and the explosions.
"You look in the green ones while I look in the yellow ones," Kal ordered. Diana and Shayera obeyed Kal and began shooting at the soldiers.
Kal fired at a soldier. It took a few seconds for it to open halfway, but there was nothing inside.
Diana shot another. There was nothing.
Shayera shot another finding nothing.
Diana shot another. Nothing.
Shayera fired again. Nothing.
Kal fired at another, and a screaming voice was heard.
"Quick Friends! Save me!"
It was Barry yelling. Kal ran up to him and opened the soldier to remove his friend. He took him to where the bikes were away from the explosions. Although oddly enough, Barry couldn't move his hands or legs, so Kal was technically dragging.
"What's wrong? You never drag your legs," Kal said.
"It's not my fault. While I was trapped inside that soldier, it had a system that kept my legs and hands cool. It completely numbed me," Barry replied.
A few seconds later, the two Rangers reached the safe place where Kal left Barry next to his yellow motorcycle.
"Don't worry about me. Go help Shay and Di find John and Wayne. I'll be fine in no time," Barry said.
"Good" Kal said going back to the battlefield.
Diana and Shayera had shot six more soldiers, expending three rounds each. They only had five left. There were only ten soldiers left, but they had to find them in time.
Diana shot one and found nothing.
Shayera shot another and found nothing.
Diana shot another. There was nothing.
Shayera fired again, finding nothing.
Diana shot another. Nothing.
Shayera shot another, and John's voice was heard.
"Quick, help me!" he yelled.
Shayera went to the soldier and opened it like Kal did and got John out. "I was beginning to doubt if you would get me out in time," he said as he clung to Diana, who led him to the bikes.
"I'd like it more if you said thank you," Diana said without meeting his eyes. She was more focused on getting him out safe and sound. It was easier because his limbs were not numb like Barry, at least not as much.
Seeing this, Humpty Dumpty began to shoot, but Diana protected her companions by deflecting the bullets with her sword. Fortunately, the shooting stopped when Kal fired his heat vision at the machine gun, causing the criminal to run into the castle.
Upon reaching the bikes, Shayera gently laid John down who tried to stand up.
"It's so hard to be trapped inside a lead soldier for hours," John said.
"Don't even tell me," Barry said, trying to stand up.
"You better get ready. We still have to rescue Wayne. He's the only one who wasn't in those lead soldiers," Kal said, handing the Morpho to Barry.
"Just give me a few more seconds," Barry said.
"Same here," John said trying to stand up as well, agreeing with Barry for the first time in a long time. As the seconds ticked by, Shayera gave him her Morpho.
After twenty seconds, the two of them got up and set their Morphos in position.
"Justice League, activate," they said at the same time and transformed.
"Come on," Kal said.
"Yes," the four Rangers said in unison.
The five of them ran into the castle which curiously did not have a door blocking the entrance. Inside the building, everything was dark until white lights came on that made everyone close their eyes for a few seconds to get used to the light.
"Do you think you already won?" Humpty Dumpy asked as screens on the walls came on. What was seen was his egg head and his maniacal smile on the four walls of the room.
"We already rescued two of our teammates. We already played your game. Now, you have to give Wayne back to us," Kal said.
"How wrong you are, Rangers. Rescuing the green and yellow was only half the game. Did you really think that I would let go of one of those who helped ruin my life so easily?" Humpty Dumpty asked, this time without a maniacal laugh.
"Sure you do, and you better give us Wayne. I'm not in a good mood after being locked in a toy soldier, egghead," Barry said.
"Things aren't that simple, yellow," said Humpty, who was annoyed by Barry's comment.
"Then tell us what is the next game so we can defeat you," Shayera said.
"Well said, pink," Humpty Dumpty said, smiling again. "The second half of this game is to rescue the dear commander from me."
As he said this, he changed the screen, and it showed Commander Wayne sitting in a chair, bound and gagged. Interestingly, he did not show any signs of being nervous or scared as he had already been in similar situations long before he was a commander.
"Don't worry, Commander. We will rescue you," John said, showing his loyalty to the commander.
"Yeah, but let's see if you can rescue him while they're flying through the air," Humpty Dumpty said very happily before laughing again.
"Run!" Shayera said. She was the first to realize this.
Barry didn't need to be told twice, so he ran. In less than ten seconds, he managed to get all four Rangers out before the place blew up, taking out one by one. All that was left of that castle were the two side towers which also started to catch on fire.
"Are you all okay?" Kal asked, quite alarmed.
"All good," Diana said.
"All in order," John said.
"I'm fine," Shayera said.
Everyone was quite shocked and short of breath after an explosion nearly cost them their lives.
"I'm fine. Just give me a few seconds. I haven't had to take a breath for a long time," said Barry, very happy that his teammates congratulated him. For a moment, everyone forgot about the difficult situation, but again, they had to fight the criminal again.
"Thanks, Barry. You saved us," Kal said.
"Thanks, Barry," Diana said, being nice to him, something not so common between the two of them.
"Well done, Allen," John said.
"It's good to have a sprinter," Shayera said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't celebrate yet, especially when the best lead soldier in the world is about to destroy his base," Humpty Dumpty said, but over megaphones which made his voice louder.
After he said this, a lead soldier rose from the flames, but it was not a six-foot one like the previous ones, but a 20-meter-high. He was a complete giant, and he was red in color. Like the others, he had his laser pistol, but this time there was one in each hand. "That, and if you can rescue your commander without blowing up this great soldier."
"J'onn, we need the jets!" Kal said using his Morpho.
"They're on their way, Kal," J'onn said.
When they arrived, each one jumped to their corresponding jet, and they began to fly.
"Okay, the first thing we have to do is find and rescue Wayne," Kal said.
"Don't forget to prevent the soldier from reaching town," John said.
"Of course I remember that, John," Kal said, somewhat annoyed.
"J'onn, can you scan the soldier to locate the commander?" John asked.
"Give me some time. Meanwhile, keep him busy," J'onn said.
"All right, Diana and Shayera, attack from behind. John and Barry attack from the front while I attack the head," Kal ordered.
"Understood," the four Rangers said in unison.
With those orders, Diana and Shayera attacked from behind with the lasers, avoiding doing any damage so that the soldier did not explode, Barry and John flew by the front attacking the hands which were harder than those of the other soldiers. Kal was flying around the lead soldier's head which was an annoyance to Humpty Dumpty who couldn't move quite well. It made it difficult for him to see the big picture through his monitor.
"Analysis completed," J'onn said. "The soldier is made of an alloy that makes him more resistant to laser attacks, but he is not resistant if you make the arrow. The commander is located on the right side of the soldier's chest. However, the soldier, like the previous ones, is an explosive carcass. If someone enters, he could explode throughout the sector," J'onn said.
"So we can't do anything to rescue the commander?" Barry asked.
"Yes of course. One of you will have to crash his jet into the soldier's chest, so that an electrical wave that I just tuned will be emitted to deactivate both him and his weapons. Once the commander is rescued, you can use the arrow to shoot him down," J'onn said.
"How is it that our jets can do that and we didn't know it?" Kal asked.
"Simple, that was the security mechanism that I implemented in the jets whenever someone tried to steal it. It was not necessary to tell you that because none of you would notice if they tried to use it for entertainment, or at least that is what the commander told me not to tell you," J'onn replied.
"Why does he always think worst-case scenario with us?" Diana asked, annoyed again.
"For now, rescue him and the city," J'onn said. "But I need to know who will crash."
"I will," Diana said.
"Diana, I think I should do it," Kal said.
"I appreciate your concern, Kal, but this time, I think I better do it, especially since I was not the one who rescued anyone when the soldiers were about to destroy John and Barry," Diana said, very determined.
"Okay, but be careful. The last thing we want is for you to get hurt too," Kal said.
"I can take care of myself," Diana said.
"We know, Diana, but still be careful," Shayera said.
"I will, Shay. In the meantime, keep him busy," Diana said.
At that moment, Diana positioned her jet in front of the giant soldier while the others continued to fire at him with their laser cannons. They had to dodge the shots coming from her two pistols. Seeing that there was no one standing in the way, she sped up towards the soldier's chest, crashing heavily, but taking no damage thanks to her protective suit.
"J'onn, transmit the electrical frequency now," Diana said.
J'onn obeyed and the electrical charge was transmitted throughout the giant soldier where he took a full minute to deactivate.
"What happened? No, my soldier can't have been neutralized as well," he said annoyed, but now he couldn't move.
Diana backed up her jet and let it float with thrusters on to get in through that little opening she made for the soldier. The floor she was standing on were electric platforms which were deactivated for her sake as well as for the commander's. She walked for a few seconds until she saw the commander in the same position that she had been previously shown by Humpty Dumpty. Without waiting a second, she drew a sword using her Morpho and broke the commander's chains and removed the gag from his mouth.
"It took longer than I thought," Commander Wayne said as he carefully got up.
"A thank you would be better received, Bruce" Diana said giving him her black Morpho, angry with the commander's attitude.
"We'd better get out of here, otherwise we'll cost the other cadets valuable time, Prince," he said, taking the Morpho from her, this time without looking into her eyes.
Diana thought about discussing her commander's lousy attitude, but she knew she was right. The two of them ran for the opening. First, she jumped onto the jet while the commander transformed into the Dark Ranger and leaped towards the ground, landing safely.
"Time to make the arrow," Diana said.
"Formation," Kal ordered.
At that moment, the five of them moved into position to form the arrow with Kal in the center, Diana and John on one side and Barry and Shayera on the other.
"Ready? Aim ... fire!" Kal said.
After those words, the five jets turned into a fire arrow that flew at full speed and pierced through the giant soldier. It caused sparks and electric lightning to fly all over his robotic body before exploding, but they didn't see that Humpty Dumpty had escaped before the soldier exploded with two parachutes. He would have quickly collapsed to the ground if he had carried one. His great weight and volume required two parachutes.
Humpty landed with some forcé. He fell head-on, but was up in seconds.
"Enjoy this victory, Wayne, because I'll get revenge later," Humpty said before a kick hit him on the cheek, sending him back.
"You are not going to take revenge on anyone else, Humphrey," said the Dark Ranger, using the criminal's real name. Obviously, Humpty Dumpty was surprised that Wayne followed him, but he came prepared, and pulled out a pistol that he kept in his sack.
"I'm not going to leave without claiming my revenge on you for ruining my life," Humpty said pointing the gun at him.
Before either of them could do anything, the jets appeared and, with their lights, illuminated the terrain. This had been thanks to the Dark Ranger telling them that he would follow Humpty Dumpty. He knew that he would run away before the explosión. It's what any criminal would do.
"Sorry, Humphrey. I have still felt bad for causing you that, but I cannot bring you peace, only justice," said the Dark Ranger, showing there was something else for which he felt guilty.
"I don't give up until I get revenge on you," Humpty Dumpty yelled firing his gun.
The bullets were blocked by the Dark Ranger's Dark Sword. After he ran out of bullets, the Dark Ranger ran up to him and used his electric fist to paralyze him which did the trick because the criminal fell a few seconds later.
Subsequently, the Dark Ranger called J'onn to bring a large truck to take Humpty Dumpty to the prison. The criminal was not going to fit in a normal size truck.
XXX
Zone C Base. 22:50
In the conference room, the Rangers were somewhat impatient because they had not eaten. They had been busy searching for the other three who had been kidnapped as well as having to fight more lead soldiers.
"Rangers, you did a good job of finding Humpty Dumpty's hiding place and stopping the giant robot. Right now, he is awake and will realize that he will spend a lot of time in a cell. Finally, the hostages were freed from the explosive casings thanks to the bullets that J'onn created," Commander Wayne said, this time being a bit colder and more monotonous than before.
"This time, the credit goes to Shayera," Kal said.
"That's true. Without her, we would not have come for you," agreed Diana.
"Well done, Shayera," John said.
"You're great, Shay," Barry said giving her a friendly slap on the shoulder.
"Well, we already congratulated you for rescuing us from the explosión, Barry," Shayera said to thank him once more.
"Good work, cadets. However, this was only a respite. It was surprising that Ra's did not want to attack us at this moment, but it is obvious that he will attack again," the commander said, always keeping everyone on their toes.
"Speaking of which, Commander, I think you should tell us more things by now," Shayera said.
"I agree," Diana said. "It seems that you like to keep everything a secret from us, even data on our own vehicles."
"Yeah, that shows you don't trust us, and I think you should fix that by now," Kal said. This seemed to have been fixed when he told him the truth about Lois Lane, but this surfaced again.
Barry and John did not speak, the first because this seemed irrelevant to him, since the information that he had not given them was not something very crucial until that momento. John did not want to contradict the commander.
"I provide the necessary information, not all, but it is to maintain order at the base," said the commander.
"But you say we are a team, and I think you should fully inform us about a fact or thing before J'onn tells us until the last minute," Diana said.
"Also, if it hadn't been for me considering that detail on the wall, we wouldn't have found you. It would be nice if you let us participate more in your investigations. Unless you want to keep taking risks and making us see that you don't trust us as your Rangers," Shayera said.
This had indeed struck a weak point in the commander, although he did not show it because he kept his serious face from him. If he continued like this, the Rangers would leave faster and they would not want to give recommendations from Zone C. He had to trust them more, but he wanted chemistry or good attitude or they would have more problems than they already had.
"Okay, cadets," said the commander with his typical neutral expression. "I will provide you with as much information as possible on any case, and I will let you participate more in the investigations as long as it is necessary as in the case of cadet Allen," he finished.
"Good," the two girls said.
"Now, you can go," he said. "Cadet El, Stewart and Allen, you can thank the cadets who will spend more of their time in cases than relaxing when they leave the room."
"And I hope that one day you will be grateful for us saving us this time," Diana said.
"Good job, Cadet Prince, but don't wait any longer than that," said the commander turning around once more to talk to the blue Ranger for a few seconds to watch the city again.
Diana sighed and left, followed by the other Rangers.
"I figured some of them would ask you to get more involved in the investigations, but now you have to keep your word if you don't want to further damage their weak trust in you," J'onn said.
"You know I'm a man of my word, J'onn. You know that I keep doing what I promised to do for a long time," the commander said, showing some vulnerability.
"I know, but when it comes to yourself, so if you don't comply, I'll make you pay," he said a bit amused. "I should be thanking you some other time anyway."
This left the commander thinking. He had become a stiffer and tougher person since he lost all four of his Rangers in two different ways, but these Rangers were asking him to be something completely different from what he had been before, and he couldn't afford it, or at least not for now.
Meanwhile, Kal, John, and Barry were complaining to Diana and Shayera about increasing their work.
"Do not take it bad. You rescued us, but now you want to make us work double or triple. That's not fair," Barry said.
"I can't believe they demanded that of the commander. I did not do it because I didn't want to pressure him, but now you want us to work on something that we are not good at. You must check with us," John said.
"I only complained because it was the height of his intentionally hiding information from us, not because he wanted more work. Now, I won't be able to be away from Wayne that long," Kal said.
"We said it more for us, but I didn't think he would give you all more work," Shayera said.
"I'm sorry about that, but I think this will help us improve. At Themyscira, they made it clear to me that you always have to continually learn and improve," said Diana.
"Sorry doesn't take that job away from us," Kal said.
"Yeah, and it'll be better if they don't want us to get madder after this," Barry said. At that moment, he began to growl in his stomach.
"I can't believe your stomach is rumbling so loud, Barry," John said, quite amused by the sound.
"I just remembered that we haven't had dinner. Goodbye!" Barry said before sprinting to run faster.
"That's true. Let's have dinner," Kal said.
The four Rangers walked into the dining room where they had a somewhat silent, but pleasant enough conversation. Shayera felt good since she'd helped to save the commander, John and Barry. Plus. her friendship with Diana was better than before and they would be able to play a more important role in the following cases, if the commander allowed them.
Diana was also happy because everything had been solved after a great suspense and nervousness about whether her companions were going to die. In addition to that, she was able to interact a little more with the commander, to explore a little more of his personality. Although until this moment she continued trying to decide if it was jealousy or it was interest.
While the others, although they were upset about the extra work that the commander will give them, they were relieved to be having dinner again with their companions.
XXX
Unknown location.
"It's weird that an egg-headed guy kept Wayne and the Rangers busy," Ra's Al Ghul said.
"What do you mean, master?" Lady Shiva asked.
"I think I already know how we can get the components for our plan without the Rangers intervening. Call him," Ra's said, showing him the image of someone on television in front of him.
"Are you sure it won't be dangerous to bring him here?" Lady Shiva asked.
"Remember who you are talking to," Ra's said. While she was his right hand, she was still in trouble with him for her failures in combat against the Blue Ranger, a problem she would have to fix soon, but now she had to obey her master.
"As you order, master," she said before leaving.
A new problem was looming, and in a worse way than the tin soldiers.
NEXT: MAGNETIC SITUATION, PART 1.