DANGER IN THE SEWERS, PART 2.

Diamond District. 15:40

The Killer Croc resurfaced from the sewers after some time after recovering from his match with the Area C Rangers. He had found his first match exciting and somewhat unsatisfactory because of the fact that he hadn't been able to devour the Blue Ranger when she had followed him into his territory.

He had fun playing with her before almost finishing her off, that was until the pink Ranger had landed on his shoulders and gave her a huge electric shock. That had forced him to leave, but this time, he was not going to allow them to defeat him. He would take them to his territory where he would play with them until he finally eliminating them one by one, leaving the blue one until the end.

He began to terrorizing the streets with his fists, destroying various walls, throwing cars, and using doors as shields. However, before he could attack civilians, a familiar scent reached his nostrils. It caused him to jump to the side just as Kal's heat vision destroyed a wall.

He laughed in response. "It must be frustrating for you, Rangers. I already have your essence. You can't take me by surprise," The Killer Croc said before throwing a door at the Rangers who were already transformed.

"How do you have our essence?" Barry asked.

"You guys are dumber than I thought. I am a crocodile. My senses are far more acute than all of you combined," The Killer Croc replied.

Shayera couldn't say much about this because she didn't know the abilities of a crocodile very well. She'd never come across one. In fact, no one except maybe Diana could say much, but she wasn't here.

"I have to ask why are there only four of you?" Killer Croc asked.

"That is none of your business, monster," Shayera said, pointing at him.

"You should be more concerned about what we are going to do now. Attack!" Kal yelled.

At that moment, Barry ran at full speed, drawing a sword with the Morpho, and launching an attack on Killer Crocodile. Oddly enough, the sword broke as well.

"Is this a prank?" Barry asked.

"My skin has also become resistant to your swords," said Killer Croc. "And I'm glad you didn't realize that until now."

XXX

15:50

The combat between the Rangers and Killer Croc had gone on for quite some time, especially now that they knew the swords weren't affecting him either. J'onn was beginning to get impatient, not only with them but also with Commander Wayne and Diana who were still fighting in the virtual training room.

The commander kept defeating Diana. Even though she changed her approach to combat, he managed to find her weak point. It was getting annoying, but she couldn't find a way to beat him. She was getting mad at herself. She was losing to her commander while her companions were facing Killer Crocodile. She had lost to him as well, but she couldn't get her revenge until she defeated the commander.

"Are you serious, Princess? You are more delicate than I thought. I saw that your sisters in Themyscira are tougher than you," said the Dark Ranger, getting up again after having put Diana on the ground.

"This is not fair at all. You already know how to beat me. My sisters were tough, but they knew the limits," Diana said, getting up again.

"Your sisters are not here," said the Dark Ranger, launching an attack on Diana with his Dark Sword before Diana was ready.

"This is not Themyscira, and the criminals you fight are not your sisters. They won't stop until they defeat you or you die, even if it means turning things in their favor. It seems you haven't learned that yet. When they are at a disadvantage, they cheat," he said as she continued to attack with downward blows.

XXX

16:00

Killer Croc was having a lot of fun, but knew that before long he must be heading to the sewers to get a better advantage. John threw wrecking balls at him which he dodged. Barry still threw all the rocks he could at him while Shayera shot him as much as she could with her pistol. They couldn't let him get too close. It was too risky especially trying to avoid getting hurt by the attacks of others.

"Good technique, but you can't stop me," he said before running towards John who was still throwing wrecking balls. Croc dodged all of these and grabbed John. Shayera knew that she must take advantage of this and ran towards the crocodile to shock him.

Unfortunately for Shayera, the crocodile jumped back, causing her to step aside. The crocodile hit her on the legs with his big hand, causing her to fall.

"Barry, rescue John and Shayera. I'll have to throw this at him," Kal said, pulling out a grenade.

"You go, Kal" Barry said before taking out another sword with his Morpho and hitting the Crocodile on the head, causing him to let go of John.

Once this was done, Kal threw a grenade at the crocodile who was still getting up. He may be very strong and have keen senses, but he was not very fast. The grenade exploded, engulfing the Killer Croc. Kal got overconfident again, so he didn't see that it took a few moments for the crocodile to get up and hit the ground, making a big hole in it and leaping in.

"I don't think you can follow me, Rangers," Killer Crocodile said.

"We didn't want him to do that, but we're going to have to go after him," Kal ordered.

"I'm going first," Barry said.

"No, stop!" Kal yelled, but Barry was faster.

XXX

16:10

The fight between the Dark Ranger and Diana was not over. She was getting angry, but her body and mind felt out of focus. She knew that her companions still hadn't returned from the fight. They had to be in trouble, but she still couldn't find a way to defeat the Dark Ranger.

"Stop focusing on a rematch against the Killer Croc or Lady Shiva. Stop behaving like the smug princess that gets overconfident when she defeats a rival. If you don't defeat me, then that means you are not an Amazon," The Dark Ranger said, with his Dark Sword in hand.

The latter did make Diana stop thinking about her team for the momento. She launched an attack on the Dark Ranger, one that he dodged and lost again in the dark. Diana knew he was going to ambush her, but she saw that he always ambushed her when she thought she had everything ready, so she was going to let him think that he had her at his mercy. Once she thought this, the Dark Ranger kicked her after swinging off a beam. Diana fell to the ground, and the Dark Ranger was going to get on top of her and point his Dark Sword at her.

Just before he did this, Diana grabbed the Dark Ranger's hand and squeezed it very hard, causing him to drop the Dark Sword. The Dark Ranger screamed and tried to respond, but Diana gave him a quick blow to the neck followed by a head butt and an arm grab that caused him to crash to the ground hard. Diana got up quickly, grabbed the Dark Sword and stood on top of the Dark Ranger, pointing her sword at him.

"I think you should say the opposite now," Diana said.

"Good job, princess," the Dark Ranger said. "You finally saw what I wanted you to notice. You successfully attacked me and defeated me. So, yes you are an Amazon, but don't think that it will always be like this. There will always be a way in which you…" he continued saying until Diana interrupted him.

"I think it's clear by now," she said, a little fed up with his attitude.

"You keep disrespecting me, Cadet Prince. Do it one more time and the punishment will be worse," he said still not moving.

Even though she still wanted to leave, something inside her was asking that he not wear a helmet or Ranger outfit on her. It was the first time she had him very close without someone else being there. He was someone desperate at many times, including this one, but he was also a good man, haunted by his past. That same impulse told him to bring her face close to his.

Meanwhile, the Dark Ranger could feel Diana's face very close to his own. It was the second time this day that he was very close to her, but this time they were alone. Now, the conflicto between them seemed to be dissolving.

For reasons he still couldn't understand, being with her made him feel… calm, made him feel… good. How did she always make him feel this? He did not allow himself to feel these kinds of emotions, but she always made them come out.

Before either of them could say anything else, both of their Morphos sounded.

"Commander, Diana has already beaten you, and the others need help," J'onn said.

"Understood, J'onn, she's on her way," the Dark Ranger said before hanging up.

"Run, Princess. I don't think they expect you anymore," he ordered Diana who had released the Dark Sword to answer her Morpho.

"Understood, commander," she said.

"Remember what you learned today," the Dark Ranger added.

"I will," she said before heading out the door.

"I hope she does," the Dark Ranger said before returning to Commander Wayne.

XXX

Diamond District. 16:25

Kal was the last one standing. John had created a bubble so that the Killer Croc couldn't attack him, but it backfired as he easily destroyed the bubble. Instead, John created a cage for himself, but the animal managed to destroy it in a matter of seconds.

Barry had tried, but the tight space took too much of his speed. Besides that, the strong current did not affect Croc. He ended up being knocked down by a strong blow from the same criminal. Shayera was the next to go down. She had tried to shock him over and over again, but Croc simply managed to use the reduced environment. Plus, the sword and pistol were of no use.

Kal was having too much trouble. If he used his heat visión, he could cause a collapse which would harm his companions. He was not going to take the risk. Plus, Croc was too fast of a swimmer and was busy so he wouldn't eat his fallen teammates. It wasn't until he appeared again that he had to face him hand-to-hand, but it was still somewhat difficult, especially since the two had almost the same strength. However, Croc was more deadly.

"Stop, beast," Diana said.

They both turned around, and saw her standing there.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd come, but you better wait until I kill the other Rangers. I'm saving you for later," Killer Croc said before continuing to fight Kal.

"I thought you wanted a rematch since my friends prevented you from defeating me, but I shouldn't have expected better from a beast like you," Diana said.

"Diana, don't do it," Kal said.

"Wait Diana, swords aren't going to work either," Barry said, still down along with Shayera and John.

This infuriated Killer Croc. It was true that he wanted revenge for her, and the Rangers were beaten. There wouldn't be much of a problem facing her so he punched Kal twice who stopped them both, but Croc took advantage of this to grab him by the wrists and throw him to the ceiling, pulling him out of the sewers.

"Justice league, actívate!" Diana said and transformed. "Justice League, Blue."

"It'll be great to see how your meat tastes," Killer Croc said.

"But first you'll have to catch me," Diana said before drawing her sword and running away from him.

"Do you want to play hunting again, blue? No problema," Croc said before jumping into the water.

Diana continued running up the wooden platforms with Croc on her heles. At the same time, she destroyed all the platforms so that the other Rangers would not interfere.

Come on, go, Diana thought. She knew he would catch up with her at some point, but she wanted to get him away from her companions so they wouldn't get hurt.

Killer Croc continued to destroy the platforms until he finally cornered Diana in the middle of a four tunnel junction. Diana was still holding her sword very tightly.

"This is your end, Blue" said Croc, who curiously was not in sight. That indicated that he had said it somewhere far away just to provoke fear in her.

At that moment, Diana closed her eyes and prepared to wait. In Themyscira, they had trained her to see the enemy attack coming blindly. With Croc and Commander Wayne, however, she had lost because they knew how to defeat her and she was not fully focused. Now, she was determined to carry out her mission to defeat Crocodile. Lady Shiva would have to wait.

Croc swam up behind Diana, showing the top of his head until he reached the platform where she was standing. He was about to bite her on the shoulder as her helmet was too much to bite, at least until he removed her suit from her.

At that moment, Diana dropped her sword and dropped it into the wáter. She turned around and grabbed Killer Croc by the neck. He tried to free himself from her by trying to scratch her using his large clawed hands and feet, but it seemed that Diana's strength increased with each passing second. She managed to lift him above the level of the platform and then throw him against the ceiling.

Croc was stunned for a few seconds, but he regained consciousness before detaching himself from her and attacking Diana. He put his hands in front of her to grab her. Unfortunately for him, she got into the correct position and hit him in the stomach, slamming him back against the ceiling. This time Diana jumped and with both of her hands, she hit the animal, destroying the roof and pulling it out of the sewers.

Diana jumped again to get out of the sewers. She saw that the crocodile had stood up. He had bruises on his stomach and on his face, but she still wanted to fight.

"You were lucky, but that was little compared to what I can resist," Killer Croc said, raising his hands and betraying his tiredness.

"The gods won't forgive you for this," Diana said before clenching her fists and running towards him.

Croc launched blows with his fists that Diana dodged, hitting him on the head, shoulder and stomach. Croc managed to compose himself and land two punches at Diana in the chest, but she blocked his next attack. She hit him in the head, then the chest and another to the stomach, causing him to fall. Diana kicked him in the back. How fortunate that she had superhuman strength.

"You still can't beat me," Croc said.

"But we can," Kal said.

Diana turned around to find Kal, Shayera, Barry and John running towards her. Diana's fight with Killer Croc had given them enough time to recover and return to combat. She started to get angry that they were going to take away the opportunity to defeat Croc, but she knew that she had to let her friends help. In the end, she had already beaten the animal up.

"It's true. The five of us can beat you," Diana said.

"I'd like to see you try it," Killer Croc said.

"Very well, I attack first, Barry and John second, and Diana and Shayera last," Kal ordered.

"Are you sure about this?" Barry asked. "I don't want to be without hands again," he reminded her.

"Use a kick or another sword, but I'm sure this will work," Kal said.

"Got it," the other four Rangers said in unison.

"I'll attack," Kal said, taking a step forward.

"I don't think so," Croc said before running towards them.

Before the animal reached them, Kal lashed out with his heat vision, causing him to recoil. "Attack now," Kal ordered.

Barry and John nodded their heads before running and hitting Croc. Barry attacked with a swift kick and John with a truck, injuring him and leaving him disoriented.

"Now you guys," Kal ordered.

Diana and Shayera nodded. Shayera went to Croc and shocked him while Diana jumped up and gave Croc a spinning kick, knocking him to the ground.

"Super Cannon Time," Kal ordered. The five of them used their Morpho and the Super Cannon appeared.

"Ready, set, aim and fire!" The five of them said in unison. With that said, a fireball shot out and hit the Killer Croc, causing a huge explosion.

Once the fire dissipated, they saw the animal lying on the ground, unconscious. Diana wasted no time going to him to handcuff him.

"On behalf of the Justice League, you are under arrest," Diana said.

XXX

17:00

"Rangers, well done," Commander Wayne said. "Killer Croc is now locked up in a special prison where we will make sure that everything he eats is not human meat, but only what the crocodiles eat".

"Yeah, thanks to Di, we kicked his ass. And luckily, I didn't lose both of my hands again," Barry said putting a hand on Diana's shoulder, but she took it from him.

"Yes, but, it was also thanks to you that we were able to finally defeat him," hhe thanked him, surprising the commander. She was being more calm than impulsive.

"That is true, Cadet Prince. You managed to inflict damage on Killer Croc with a good strategy and then your companions helped you defeat him with a well-coordinated attack from Cadet El," said the commander.

"Wow, I see that accepting that someone else got it right isn't so bad after all," Diana said, causing the commander to return to his rigid posture.

"Don't overdo it, cadets. This was a tough victory, but Ra's remains a major threat and we have yet to detect any robberies from the Shadow League. So for now, you can retreat, but don't let your guard down," the commander warned before turning around and heading to his chair.

"Understood, sir," said four Rangers before leaving, except Diana, who still wanted to continue talking.

"Thank you very much for your training, Bruce," she said, causing Commander Wayne to turn around.

"You don't need to thank me, Cadet Prince. Don't think that this means that I will always make mistakes. Stop challenging me. It's not fit for a Ranger," the commander said, reminding her of what almost got her kicked out of the league.

"Okay, commander, but it was good to see that acknowledging someone's effort is not so bad," she said smiling again.

"I said it before, and I'll say it now. Don't get used to it," said the commander before turning around.

"It's okay, Bruce," she said before leaving.

He was sure he was going to be upset when she told him this, but oddly enough, nothing was heard. Even if nothing happened, this was still important to her. She still didn't understand how it was that she always felt good talking to him, being with him, having a lot of interest in him and in him showing a different face every time he was with her.

Diana managed to put these thoughts aside and went to the entertainment room where the other Rangers were waiting for her.

"Well done, rookie. The crocodile didn't have a chance against you," John said.

"Yes. I thought you were acting in pure anger again, but you did well. I think what Wayne forced you to do in training worked a lot," Kal said.

"Yeah, it was good that you saved us and then beat him up," Shayera said. "But what did you have to train with the commander to beat crocodile?"

Diana reflected a bit to be able to answer the question correctly, but in the end there was not much problem.

"He helped me remember that I was an Amazon, and that I had been trained to fight beasts. I had forgotten that there were more threats than Lady Shiva, although of course, I had to learn it in a way that I hope will not happen again," she replied.

She had meant it. Even though she had remembered her purpose to be here, it was quite a hard experience, and it was better not to constantly endanger her Friends. Something also told her to have a similar moment with the commander again, but it was time to relax, so that had to be for another day.

"Well, stop challenging Commander, Diana. If not, I think the four of us will always have to go and think about how to defeat the enemies without you," John said. This made everyone laugh, including Diana. This had been a good day.

While this was happening, Commander Wayne had his thoughts occupied with two things. One, that Ra's would undeniably attack soon, but he did not know how he would do it. There was no sign that he had stolen components for an ion shell, but there were no signs of theft of any dangerous material.

The only thing he could keep doing was wait, but it wouldn't be a good thing when it happened. The other thing that kept him worried was that Diana kept making him feel Good. Even at this moment when she had called him Bruce he felt… good. He never felt good when they called him that, but she was an exception to that rule. He wondered why she was always the exception to seeing him vulnerable despite all his efforts to remain rock hard. He always told himself to be so as not to show feelings to others.

As he was reflecting on this, he knew that it was better not to pay attention to this emotional state that she provoked in him, at least not for now. Stopping Ra's was the most important thing and he would not let this interfere with his mission. This was always the important thing about being a Ranger. With that conclusion, he would continue to guard the city. There was no news yet, but at least he felt calm for now.

XXX

Unknown location. 21:00

"Croc did a good job distracting them," Ra's Al Ghul said, looking on with pure pride at the machine in front of him. "How good that Wayne made us realize that the ion shell was too obsolete to destroy the C zone. Now ,we have a better plan than anyone. Not even he or any of those useless Power Rangers are going to be able to stop me," he added with a smile on his face. "Shiva, your time is drawing near, but also look for Wilson. He too will have his share in this," he ordered.

"Yes, master" Shiva said before going to look for the mercenary who had an unfinished business with the Red Ranger.

Before long, the great attack on the City and Area C would begin. It would do so in a very unusual way, but Ra's Al Ghul was always known for doing unusual things.

I hope you liked this chapter and the WonderBat moment I put here. If you ask me why the commander did not go to this battle, it is because I am saving him for something more. The Rangers still need moments in battle without him. But I assure you that something intense is coming.

And, by the way, it's December 25th. Merry Christmas to all of you readers.

NEXT: FLOATING ISLAND, PART 1.