MAGNETIC SITUATION, PART 1.
Unknown location. 8:00
Ra's Al Ghul, the leader of the deadly League of Shadows, had finished his training with his best men. He did this because just as he had told Commander Wayne, AKA the Dark Ranger, that his biggest confrontation was very close. He wanted the end result to be him defeating both Commander Wayne and his new Power Rangers Squad. With Zone C destroyed, the world would be free from that hopeless and decaying place.
Once in his chair, he relaxed and continued to wait for Lady Shiva to return. He had tasked her with recruiting a well-known criminal to fight his enemies. The next phase of his plan was ready to take place, but he needed a distraction.
However, he was frustrated with both himself and Lady Shiva. He would have preferred his first attacks on Zone C to have been successful. It would have been had it not been for the intervention of Wayne and the other Rangers. The frustration he had against Lady Shiva was because he was fed up with the excessive and ridiculous amount of defeats she had suffered at the hands of the Amazon who was the Blue Ranger. He couldn't believe that she couldn't beat her at any point.
"My lord, I have returned with whom you asked me to bring," Lady Shiva said, kneeling before him with her hand on her breast.
"Here I am, Ra's. I hope you brought me for something Good," said the criminal.
Ra's Al Ghul rose from his chair and drew the Soul Stealing Sword. "I don't want to hear complaints. Your job is very simple. You just have to go to Zone C and commit any crime you want, but make sure you attract the Power Rangers to you. I need you to keep both them and the commander of Zone C busy," Ra's Al Ghul said as he approached the criminal very confidently.
"Seriously? You just want me to keep them busy? " asked the criminal.
"Yes. If you fulfill your mission and come back here, I will give you a half carat diamond," Ra's told him, still without moving away from him.
"Then you convinced me," said the criminal turning to leave.
"I just warn you not to eliminate any Rangers. I just want you to defeat them or keep them busy," Ra's stressed.
"Count on that. They won't know what hit them," he said before leaving.
"Don't do anything stupid, Shiva. I'm getting tired of seeing you fail," Ra's said as he sat down on his chair again.
"I will not sir," Lady Shiva angirly said as she left.
She locked herself in her room and kicked a chair. Ra's was not the only one who was frustrated. She was also frustrated with herself and with the league itself because they had not yet managed to destroy the C zone. She had also fallen from Ra's's favor for having lost against the Blue Ranger. She took a deep breath and knew that she had to go to take care of unfinished business.
XXX
Zone C Base. 15:00
The Rangers were in the entertainment room. They had finished eating and patrolling and were now relaxing. In the last few days, Commander Wayne's training had remained the same—training on ice, sword fighting, thinking about situations under pressure such as being close to being defeated or in unusual situations. Even the patrols weren't as crazy as when Ra's Al Ghul ambushed them.
"Oh, there's no better feeling than a calm day on base," Barry said as he lay down.
"That's true. Ra's fortunately did not interrupt my last date with Lois," Kal said quite calm and happy.
"Your dates with Lois don't matter. What matters is that Zone C is safe," John said angrily. He was still frustrated that the clueless person who was most concerned about dating Lois was the Red Ranger.
"Hey, Kal obviously cares about the other people in Zone C, not just Lois," Diana said, annoyed with him.
"I haven't seen him worry about anyone other than her in all this time," John said without looking at her. "And this is none of your business, rookie." John used his nickname for her which sometimes meant that he was angry.
"If you said it out loud, then it concerns us, John," Shayera said.
"This doesn't concern you either," John said looking directly at her.
"John, I do care about people, but I think if your wife were here, you'd be more worried about her being safe as I do with Lois," Kal said.
"Maybe, but you should show that you can be a Ranger without worrying about Lois," John said.
"Johnny, Kally, enough fighting. Your arguments make me uglier with all the stress," Barry said getting up.
"Oh, small amounts of stress don't make you less handsome, but they do make you serious," Shayera said.
This drew a bit of laughter from the other four Rangers, but the alarm interrupted the moment. The five went to the conference room where they saw Commander Wayne ready to give the orders.
"Bank robbery at The Bowery at the hands of an armed criminal," Commander Wayne said quickly.
"Here we go," Kal said before leaving with the other Rangers.
XXX
The Bowery. 15:30
Thefts in broad daylight were a common occurrence in Zone C, but these robberies were carried out by petty thieves who were stopped within a few minutes or hours. However, the thief who was carrying it out this time was very different.
Like any other criminal, he arrived dressed in a raincoat and with his hat that concealed his identity. Once he entered the bank, he sat in a chair, acting like a normal customer who came to make a transaction, but, after a few minutes, he moved his hands and all the coins and metal objects that all the civilians had inside the place began to go towards him. Once all the objects had reached him, he got up from his chair and began to leave.
Obviously, the guards who were outside with their weapons entered the building because one of the employees activated the alarm while, at the same time, alerting the Justice League. Upon seeing the criminal, the two guards pointed their guns at him, but the criminal only moved his hand forward, causing the guards to shoot out of the building, smashing the bank door.
The criminal exited the building and passed the guards. He waved his hand again and their weapons slipped out of their hands and headed straight for him. He grabbed them and was ready for the Rangers' arrival.
The Rangers arrived two minutes laterto find that he had already covered a good distance quite calmly.
"Thief, surrender or we will have to use force," John said.
"Hey, I'm the one who always has to say that," Kal said.
"You better focus on this if you don't want me to shock you," Shayera threatened. It was a terrible decision to start an argument in the middle of the battlefield so it was better to stop them before another fight.
"Or if they don't want me to stop them," Diana threatened as well.
With the time that the other Rangers had passed, accepting her again as a friend and Ranger, she and Shayera agreed on quite a few things, especially when fighting. They were both very happy about that, but they had to concentrate on the fight against the criminal.
"Look, they are the mighty Power Rangers," said the criminal with marked sarcasm.
"Yes, but we are going to defeat you," John said. He was about to speak again, but Kal cut him off.
"Ready?" Kal asked.
"Ready!" The other four said in unison, even John though somewhat annoyed.
"Justice League, actívate!" The five said in unison and transformed. "Rangers of the Justice League."
Seeing that they were transformed, the criminal fired the shotguns again and again at the Rangers, causing sparks to be released on the ground. Fortunately, the Rangers dodged the shots.
Diana wanted to stop him quickly and drew her sword using her Morpho to run towards him. Upon reaching him, the criminal dropped a shotgun and moved his hand. Diana's sword was deflected the other way before she could hit him with it.
"What happened?" Diana asked after she stopped by the criminal.
She turned and attacked him again, but the criminal moved his hand again. His sword swerved not once, but seven times. The last time she tried, the criminal stopped having fun and kicked her in the stomach.
"How can I not hit him once?" Diana said on the ground.
"I don't know, but I will solve that problema," Barry said, pulling a sword from his Morpho and ran at full speed to hit the criminal. Before he could do it, the criminal moved his hands and the sword shot to the other side almost hitting Kal.
"Barry, watch out!" Kal yelled.
"It's not my fault. Something sent my sword flying," Barry said as he tried to hit the criminal, but the criminal managed to move his hands again and Barry went flying, crashing into Shayera.
"Sorry, Shay. I don't know what's going on," he apologized.
"Take off," Shayera said and began to shoot the criminal, causing sparks to fly, but the criminal moved his hands and Shayera's gun shot out towards the criminal.
"Now I have your gun," said the criminal, shooting at Shayera, but Barry moved her to another place.
Diana approached again, now without a sword, because she knew that she was not going to beat him that way. When attacking him, the criminal did not have much defense against her. He wasn't the type to hanlde a melee. He only knew how to use his powers so he decided to let himself be lost. When Diana grabbed him by the neck, he grabbed her neck and shocked her. She screamed for a few seconds until he released her.
Seeing this, Kal ran over and struck the criminal hard, driving him back. Unlike Diana, his attacks were stronger rather than faster, making it easy for him to dodge some. John wanted to help so he created a sword with which he connected some blows, but the criminal got fed up and moved his hands. Some metal fences were torn from some buildings, flying at Kal and John, but he managed to create a shield that blocked some attacks.
Seeing them as a great threat, he knew that he had to keep them busy. Since they were close to him, he grabbed them and electrocuted them. The two freed themselves from his attack and the criminal walked away from them, but something happened that they never thought would happen. The two shot towards each other and stuck chest to chest.
"Get off, Kal!" John said, trying to get away from him using his hands.
"You stay away," Kal said, doing the same with his hands.
"Not that I wanted to be doing this," John said.
"What are they doing?" Shayera asked.
"I don't know. That guy did something to us," Kal said.
"Well don't worry. We'll beat it for you," Barry said before running again.
The criminal saw him approach, deciding to do the same thing that he had done to Diana. He moved his hands causing the metallic debris to form a barrier around him. Seeing this, Barry and Shayera tried to remove all the debris, one quickly removing it and another shooting at the debris. Before they could do anything else, the debris flew all over the place, taking down the last two Rangers.
The criminal went to Barry and electrocuted him. A few seconds later, he did the same to Shayera. Diana finally got up and ran to him, but was barely able to run because of the metallic debris stuck to her.
"Now what happened?" Diana asked.
"Diana, stay away!" Kal said as he tried to walk towards her with John following her to keep from tripping. "I'll tear it to pieces," Kal said.
"No, I'll do it. Stop being glued to me," John said, creating a sword to hit him, but he couldn't even touch it. The criminal threw his raincoat at them which he used as a distraction to hit them with hard punches.
"My work here is done. Now you are trapped, and you will never get out of this unless you manage to defeat me, the great master of magnetism, Doctor Polaris," said the criminal, showing his blue metallic suit with two horns on his helmet.
"Good-Bbye" he said before taking a big leap away.
"Barry, go after him," John said.
"I give the orders," Kal said.
"Here I go," Barry said, but another part of the metallic debris stuck to him, knocking him down.
"Barry, are you okay?" Shayera said. At that moment, other debris stuck to her.
"I think we better go back to base to come up with a plan," John said.
"First, Barry, Diana, Shayera, we need you to help us separate," Kal said, trying to detach himself from John. However, with his great strength, he could hurt John so it was better for the others to take him off.
"That's true," John said, doing everything to keep his face from sticking to Kal's even though they still had their suits on. Diana, Barry, and Shayera addressed them. Diana took Kal while Barry and Shayera grabbed John.
"Ready?" Diana asked. Shayera nodded. "One, two..." she began, but was interrupted.
"Wait! Do we do it at three or one, two, three, now?" Barry asked.
"Oh, Barry, not again," Shayera said. This was something he always asked every time they got ready to do something that involved a countdown.
"At three," Diana said with a sigh. Barry nodded.
"One, two, three," Diana said and they began to pull on both sides. It was not easy. They had to move with metal objects attached to their bodies with a very strong magnetic force.
"This is worse than I thought," Barry said.
"Don't stop! We almost got you apart," Diana said.
It was the first time in a long time that she had to use a lot of force to pull an object. The last time she had done it was in Themyscira when she was pulling a large rock that was part of a test of strength in that place.
Shayera kept pulling as hard as she could, but her hands began to slide from John's arms. A few seconds later, the three released the other two Rangers. They shot at each other, although, this time, they were facing each other's backs.
"Thanks guys," John said. "We no longer have to watch our mouths stick together."
"Yes," Kal said. At that moments, the Morpho sounded so everyone grabbed theirs. Only Diana, Barry and Shayera were hit in the face.
"Cadets, you better get back to base, but be careful," Commander Wayne said.
"Good, commander," the five responded.
"Stop! They can't ride a motorcycle like that," Shayera said.
"Sure they can, Hol. We'll go on mine," John said.
"Why can't we go on mine?" Kal asked.
"No, mine," John said.
They started arguing over and over again, saying "on mine" for a minute before Diana stopped them.
"Shayera will take your motorcycle Kal. I'll put your bike in the squad car. John and you will go in it. Understood?" she asked, showing that although she had a rather innocent face, she could be scary.
"It's okay, Diana," The two Rangers said in unison.
"At least he didn't yell at me this time," Barry said.
"Yes, but something tells me that it would not have been as fun as seeing her scolding them," Shayera said very cheerfully.
Diana did what she said she would do and took the two Rangers in the squad car, although they were both horizontal to prevent someone from being pressed against her seat.
XXX
16:00
When returning to the base, all the personnel of the base did not have their weapons, or at least they were not visible. This was a good thing for the Rangers because it would prevent more objects from sticking to their bodies. Obviously, the commander gave the order to put all the objects in a safe place until further notice.
The Rangers kept walking until they reached the conference room, though during that journey they got stuck to the walls a few times. Although, the most difficult thing was that Kal and John tried to move. As they entered, Commander Wayne was in his chair with his equipment belt still on without approaching them.
"Cadets, I'm keeping my distance so as not to get within the radius of your magnetic field," said the commander without moving.
"The criminal we faced said that his name was Doctor Polaris. It's obvious that his specialty is magnetism," Shayera said.
"Well said, Cadet Hol. Doctor Polaris, aka Neal Emerson, is a criminal who has been able to create technology that can manipulate metal as if it were a large magnetic field. He has been robbing many banks and gun vaults in many places. He has visited Zone C on a few occasions, the last one being six years ago. This makes me think that Ra's Al Ghul must have sent him here," explained Commander Wayne, putting his classic pensive position that was a hand touching his chin.
"For what? I don't see any point in trapping us with magnets," Barry said.
"To keep us busy with some criminal, but it's not going to do any good," said the commander very confidently.
"Now, we are monitoring any possible robbery or crime that is being committed in the city," the commander replied without standing up. At that moment, the alarm sounded.
"Is Ra's attacking again?" Diana asked.
"No, it's Doctor Polaris. He is making people magnetic," the commander answered, his back towards them because he had turned around to see what was happening on his monitor. He and the Rangers saw how the criminal was electrocuting people and metal objects began to fly towards them.
"Cadets, you have to go stop him," said the commander.
"Really? In this condition?" Kal asked.
"If the commander ordered it then we have to do it," John said shaking his head to the side to speak to Kal.
"We are in no condition for that," Kal said.
"Cadets, if you were injured, then I would go to arrest him alone, but you are fit to fight. In this case, they just have to learn to work as a team," said the commander standing up.
At that moment, the commander was pulled from his position and crashed into Diana. For the first time, their bodies had touched, but outside of practice. A moment later, the door opened and J'onn came in with his board in hand which was quickly drawn to Barry.
"How is this possible? You were at a good distance," Diana said trying to get away from Commander Wayne, avoiding doing any damage to him.
"What happened?" J'onn asked.
"I was at a safe distance from the cadets, but I was still attracted by the magnetic field," the commander replied as he grabbed onto the table to detach himself. A moment later, Barry and Shayera were also drawn to the commander's belt.
"Now what?" Barry asked.
"It's the first time I've seen this, but I think the magnetic field that Polaris put on you is increasing as time goes by," J'onn said. Within seconds, the walls of the base began to rattle. "The walls are going to be torn down and they will come your way."
"Why didn't it affect us?" Kal asked.
"I think because Polaris linked them magnetically. He did not create magnetic fields in you like he did with the others, cadet," the commander said.
"Oh no. Let's go," Diana said, using all of her strength to detach herself from the commander. After a few seconds she succeeded. "We can't allow the walls to come at us."
"You don't have to say it twice," Barry said before running off the base in a few seconds.
"At this time, I wish I had his speed," Shayera said as she left the room.
"Try using the magnetism against Polaris! If you do that, it could free you from the magnetic field!" Commander Wayne yelled. "In the meantime, you guys try to go after Polaris to defeat him. That could also remove you from the magnetic field and avoid fights," he ordered Kal and John.
"I'm not the problema. It's him," John said.
"No, I'm the red one and you keep giving me orders," Kal said.
"Discuss it on the way," the commander ordered.
"Yes sir," they said at the same time.
"I'm not going to allow you to slow us down," John said, grabbing Kal by the arms and lifting him up with his own strength. Now Kal was on John's back, but before the Kal could complain, John started running.
"I didn't even order you to do that," Kal said as he squirmed on John's back.
"Very good way to go, at least for a while," said the commander before pressing the button to raise the screen and open the conduit that would take him to his car.
"I thought you weren't going to participate," J'onn said.
"I have to go help people who are being affected by the magnetic field. Cadets cannot do it at this time. I have to be more careful since I won't be able to use the Dark Sword in this situation," the commander said before turning around, ready to jump. "And tell me if the cadets need help. They may need me too," he said before jumping down the chute.
"I will," J'onn said.
This fight was going to be interesting.
NEXT: MAGNETIC SITUATION, PART 2.