JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, PART 1.
One month later
Zone C Base. 19:00
This had been another strange month in Commander Wayne's life. In those thirty days, the five Power Rangers had been able to rest a little after their hard and violent fight against the powerful giant called Darkseid, coming from a planet unknown to the League, as well as to almost all the other planets under its protection. But that hadn't been the strange thing, the strange thing was that his team had agreed to stay in Zone C to wait for the return of Darkseid himself, but not because they felt obliged, but because they truly wanted to help the area and protect it from a threat that the League was still trying to research the measures to contain it once he returned to the planet.
What made it even stranger was that with that change in attitude, the Rangers hardly had any fights or arguments over anything anymore. They seemed like a completely cohesive team, and daily training had gone off without a hitch. The calm was still strange to him, especially now that a major threat off-planet threatened not only Zone C, but the entire planet, and every Power Ranger squad in the world, and it was only a matter of time before it returned to continue that war. He knew that, just like it had happened with Ra's Al Ghul, the Rangers couldn't fail, but he would make sure not to fail them as well.
Another event in those thirty days is that the Blue Ranger from Zone B, Victor Stone, had sent the information acquired by the Mother Box to all the bases on the planet, and then to those in the galaxy. There they could see that Darkseid was the ruler of a planet called Apokolips, a planet whose law is what he says it is, with his army of countless creatures that he called 'Parademons', his scientist Desaad, his lieutenant Steppenwolf and his right hand called Granny Goodness, who turned out to be an old woman, but very rude, sadistic and strong. Obviously, most took this as a joke, but it had to be clarified to everyone that, indeed, she was a very dangerous old woman, but they would have to wait for her to make her appearance on Earth to judge for themselves. Together, all of them have conquered so many civilizations and entire planets, and some have been entirely destroyed by him, turning the survivors of said planets into his faithful parademons. With this information, they knew that they were more dangerous than they had anticipated, but they would not give up, all the Power Ranger squads had agreed to remain in their respective zones, so they would have to increase their training and the technology would also have to be modified just as the Rangers of Zone C had done.
While Commander Wayne, like all the other commanders at the other bases, were in charge of physical training, J'onn was in charge of improving the base's technology and weaponry, as were the other scientists at the other bases. At this time, he was improving the suits' durability, the effectiveness of the weaponry, and was ready to give them a slight technological modification.
However, calm is only a fleeting period of time, so something always comes that must come to an end. But, this time it's not because of Darkseid, or it didn't seem that way. In the last week, mysterious attacks against women had occurred in certain parts of the city. It was not known who had committed such crimes, but it was an alarming and abnormal matter. All the women had been found in alleys or in their homes in a catatonic state, pale and dehydrated, as if someone had drained their life force. The Rangers conducted an investigation together with Commander Wayne and J'onn, but it was fruitless, and despite everything, they were not getting any useful information. They even asked Lois Lane for help again and to take them back to Kent Nelson, but he was absent, or so the sign said. Therefore, it seemed that the only option they had available was to wait for the criminal they wanted to stop to strike again, and it was desperate, especially for Commander Wayne, and Diana; for him because he hated that the criminal went free despite all his crimes, while she hated how they attacked women.
However, it seemed that luck had changed tonight, there was an alarm about a conflict between two people, but it wasn't a street brawl, it was an all-out brawl between two powerful individuals who were causing damage in the city. Therefore, the commander was quick to call them, and the five of them were soon on their way to the scene of the fight in the Diamond District.
When they arrived in their patrol cars and motorcycles, they saw a man in a dark purple outfit, who was looking directly at a destroyed wall, on which a person they couldn't see was lying. Kal would have used his vision to see that person, but he was focused on the strange criminal in the extravagant attire.
"Justice League Rangers, stop or we will make you do it" Kal threatened. The criminal turned around and they saw that he was human, a man with a long nose and chin and blue eyes, who smiled very happily.
"You won't force me to surrender, you pathetic Rangers" The criminal said before moving his hands forward and launching a purple wave towards them.
The Rangers stood still, not knowing what kind of power this was, and it didn't cause the typical explosions that other enemies always caused. Suddenly, they started hitting each other.
"So what's happening now?" Kal asked.
"We don't control our bodies, but we can speak well," John said.
"I don't understand, he doesn't control us like Poison Ivy did," Shayera said.
"Not even Ares did this," Diana said.
"Stop it, arms! Stop it!" Barry screamed as if that could stop his body from attacking his friends.
"Oh, keep complaining, this is so funny," the criminal said, wanting to laugh. The joy he felt at this moment distracted him from the other person he was fighting, who rose from the pile of rubble he was buried in, and cast a spell on the purple man, who was knocked down, and the Rangers stopped attacking each other.
"What happened?" Barry asked.
"I don't know, I think that silver person had something to do with it" John replied.
"Forget that, attack them" Kal said.
The five of them quickly made their way to the purple man and the silver person, but the purple man waved his arms, but the silver person punched him in the hip and said some strange words that sent the Rangers into the wall, where they were stuck like giant stickers. The purple man used this to shoot fire at the silver person, who flew off leaving several explosions in his wake.
"I already have what I wanted, so I better go" said the purple man and disappeared through a portal.
The silver person stood up again and glanced at the Rangers, seeing that they were in top condition, but he didn't give them time and then he left, disappearing from their sight. A second later, the five Rangers stopped sticking to the wall and fell to the ground. Clearly, they didn't like this at all.
"This is pointless. This is the first time we have nearly been defeated and the two of them barely said a few words and made a few gestures" Kal said.
"It's likely. Considering that this is the first time I've encountered something as strong as that," Diana said. "The technology they used was much more advanced than Ares's" she asked.
"No doubt, Diana" Kal said.
"It's strange, it seems like they already knew each other, and he knew us too, but we've never seen him before" John said.
"That and his outfit was ridiculous, more so than the Joker's" Barry said.
"Make fun of it all you want, but he almost defeated us, Barry" Shayera reminded him.
They couldn't continue talking because of the sound of their Morphers.
"Commander ?" the five Rangers asked in unison.
"Rangers, I assume you were unable to stop this street fight between those two strangers?" Commander Wayne said.
"How did you know?" Barry asked, annoyed that he had caught them.
"Because you have already taken longer than usual, and you did not call for a truck transporting criminals" He replied, in a somewhat disdainful tone.
"Yes, but it wasn't our fault, Commander," Shayera said.
"Exactly. That criminal we were facing had more advanced technological equipment than ours, and a silver girl appeared and stopped us from continuing to fight," Kal said.
John and Diana decided not to say anything, because this situation was strange, and they didn't want to complain, because they were more focused on what had just happened.
"You better go back to base to find out exactly what happened," he ordered them, in a calmer tone, something very unusual, considering the context.
"Here we go, Commander," all five said at the same time.
XXX
10 minutes later
When they returned to base, they were intercepted by Commander Wayne before they reached the conference room.
"Cadets, tell me what exactly happened," the commander demanded.
"Well, what we told you before, we were fighting that criminal in purple clothing, but then a girl in a silver suit appeared and stopped us from continuing to fight," Kal explained.
"And whoever did it is going to pay, just like that man in the purple clothes," Diana said.
"You can't make me pay, I'm someone amazing" said the same voice they had heard during the fight.
The Rangers looked away from the commander and saw the same mysterious person in a silver suit. Quickly, the five of them used their Morphers and transformed, and were ready to attack that woman, but the commander stopped them.
"Do not attack, cadets!" the commander ordered.
"But she's the one who attacked us!" Barry shouted.
"Don't attack! Deactivate your powers, and you, to the conference room! I told you not to leave there!" The commander told the silver girl.
The girl seemed to obey the commander and entered the conference room, followed by the commander. The five of them deactivated their powers after they did that.
"Does the commander know that person?" Shayera asked.
"If so, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do" Kal said.
"Definitely" Diana said.
"Although this has become stranger than it originally was" Barry said.
"Indeed, but we better go in" John said.
The five of them walked in and saw the silver girl standing in a resting position.
"Cadets, I would have told you something before sending you into battle, but I didn't know she was coming to the city to stop the criminal, and I couldn't interrupt you in battle, but I trusted that she could help you" The commander explained to them, maintaining his serious posture, although it was strange to explain to them when something that happened was not in his control, but the explanation was not satisfactory.
"What do you mean she would help us? She pinned us against the wall" Kal said.
"Stop, who is she?" Shayera asked.
"And how do you know her?" Diana added.
"We need an explanation" John said.
"No, it isn't. Deactivate your powers" The commander ordered the silver girl.
"Deactivate powers" The silver girl said and the suit disappeared, revealing a thin woman in a black suit, but with silver sections on her right arm and leg, and she had quite white skin, black hair, a straight nose and blue eyes. Obviously, her physical build and physiognomy did not go unnoticed by the other Rangers.
"Diana, do you have a twin sister you never told us about?" Barry asked.
"I don't have a sister like her, otherwise I think I would have told you before, and it's obvious that she's not like me. Don't be offended" Diana said.
"But you have to admit, they do look similar. She could get a little tan and you'd be almost twins" Barry said.
"That's enough, cadets. Tell them who you are" The commander ordered the girl.
"I am Zatanna Zatara, the Silver Ranger of the Justice League Dark" said the girl who called herself Zatanna.
"Justice League Dark?" The five Rangers asked in unison. Zatanna just nodded.
"We've never heard of that league" Shayera said, somewhat angry again, but because the commander hadn't told them something very important, again.
"They didn't have to know, at least not until now, Cadet Hol. But the Justice League Dark is a squad of Power Rangers dedicated to stopping crimes, misdeeds, or paranormal activities that could harm the Earth or humanity, and I didn't tell them because it's very rare when the Justice League and the Justice League Dark collaborate. And apparently, that would be the case, or not. Depending on Ranger Zatara" The commander explained.
"Why is it up to Ranger Zatanna?" John asked.
"Because, like I said, collaborations between a squad like ours and the Justice League Dark are very rare, and from the looks of it, we're up against someone who can easily defeat them. Ranger Zatanna is here to determine whether or not we can help them" The commander explained. "But first, you have to explain who we're up against, Ranger Zatanna" He ordered, pointing at the woman.
The Ranger recited words that could not be understood again and generated the figure of the man she had fought, but as if it were a spiritual projection or an illusion, rather than the true criminal they had faced.
"We're facing Felix Faust" Zatanna began to explain.
"Did you stop him before?" Shayera asked.
"No, we couldn't" Zatanna replied.
"Is that why you stopped us from fighting when you threw us against the wall?" Kal asked.
"Hey, if it weren't for me, you would have beaten each other until you had broken bones," Zatanna complained.
"Hey, we didn't know about your level 47 Mage Ranger division, whatever you guys are, blame the commander for that" Barry said.
"I will blame you personally if anything goes wrong on the next mission, Allen" The commander told him in his calm tone, but it was obvious that he didn't like what Barry said.
"I'm sorry, Commander" Barry said, very nervous.
"Now, the question is what is he planning, Ranger Zatanna?" Commander Wayne asked, his anger having faded.
"I have no idea, Commander" Zatanna said.
"You don't know what he wants to do?" The commander asked. "I thought you had that covered."
"For now, we only know that he's collecting souls, and he probably picks women when they're alone so as not to attract attention, but now that I'm here, it's not going to be easy for him to do it once again without me or someone else from the league facing him, even if he is unpredictable. You know from your own experience that magic can be unpredictable, Commander" She told him this last thing with a rather mischievous smile, which did not go unnoticed by the other Rangers.
"Are you guys dating?" Barry asked.
This had already become uncomfortable for the commander, so he had to get rid of them, at least for a while.
"Better leave us alone for now" Said the commander.
" Commander , you owe us more explanations," Diana said, almost shouting at the commander.
"I've explained enough for now, Prince. We'll explain more later, now, leave us alone" The commander demanded, also wanting to scream.
The five Rangers reluctantly left the conference room and the door closed, but they weren't going to go to the entertainment room.
"Kal, can you see what they're doing?" Diana asked.
"Let me see," Kal said before activating his vision. "It seems Wayne has a lot of patience with Zatanna. She sat in her chair, and he doesn't do anything" Kal explained.
This left the Rangers speechless, only Kal had ever sat in the commander's chair, but that was when he was gone for a few days. Now, a female Ranger sitting in his chair was not possible, unless they were actually a couple.
They could no longer remain perplexed, as Commander Wayne stepped into the hallway.
"Leave us alone, and if you use your x-ray vision again, Cadet El, you'll have to train without your eyes next time" He threatened before entering the conference room again.
That was enough for the Rangers, who ran off to the conference room, except for Diana, who walked away, annoyed by this strange situation, and especially by his distant and preferential attitude towards the Silver Ranger. She wasn't going to leave this like that.
As they headed to the entertainment room, Commander Wayne walked back in and saw the silver Ranger still sitting cross-legged on her chair.
"Did you have to mention our past?" The commander asked, quite calm, but his annoyance was noticeable.
"You know they were going to find out about this sooner or later, Bruce" Zatanna replied cheerfully.
"These Rangers are overly jealous, as you could see earlier. You mentioning this will get me into trouble with them, especially Prince" the commander said, raising his voice a little.
"Relax. I didn't tell anyone how much you hate magic after you almost got turned into a bat by that demon kid" Zatanna said.
"Yes, but now, they won't leave me alone until they know the whole story" said the commander.
"It's not like the three Rangers who were trapped in the Soul Stealing Sword that you were able to free months ago, so I'm sorry to congratulate you until now, I was busy with other missions before coming here to tell you that. But, our story won't affect your Rangers too much" She said.
"If you had seen them when they met Dick, you would agree with me" He said, calming down a little at her congratulations.
"Wow, you met Dick. Has he forgiven you yet?" She asked, but she wasn't smiling anymore. This had gotten more serious.
"He congratulated us all on the success of the mission against Ra's, but it's clear he'll never forgive me, and I don't blame him" He said, looking away slightly.
"I'm sorry, Bruce, but I think he will one day. The fact that he congratulated you is a good sign, the bad thing is that I can't help you with him. He's just as stubborn as you" She said, returning to an amused tone again.
"But that's what makes me successful on missions, Zanna, and Dick too" He said, giving her a slight smile.
"Yes, but you shouldn't be so cruel to your Rangers. In the end, they are the ones who stayed to stop Darkseid's invasion" She explained.
"Did you hear about that too?" He asked.
"Sure, we even helped return several of the kidnapped people to their homes when they returned to Earth, but there was no time to rest, another mission came up. I'm sorry, Bruce, I wanted to see you right then to see how you were and to congratulate you, but I don't think you understand" She said this last thing in a playful tone.
"You say that when I'm the commander of Zone C, and I can't take any breaks to keep this zone and my Rangers safe, Zanna" He said, also quite amused.
In the entertainment room, the five Rangers were perplexed and at the same time, somewhat jealous of the treatment that this silver Ranger was receiving. Not only was she mocking the commander, but she was committing actions that not even Dick had done. To make matters worse, it seemed that she had dated or was still in a relationship with him.
"Did Wayne date every girl we know?" Barry asked.
"Don't be too exaggerated, Barry. Apparently he hasn't dated any of the villains we've faced, much less the Rangers from Zone B" Shayera replied, somewhat annoyed by Barry's statement, although she was also annoyed by the Silver Ranger, but because now, there was another color which she had to overcome being the Pink Ranger.
"Yeah, but he seems like a magnet with girls" Barry said.
"I don't understand how she keeps hiding information from us. I never would have thought that all this time she had a relationship," Kal said, annoyed because the Silver Ranger had made them look incompetent just like the witch named Morgana who must have been doing some evil in the city without them being able to stop her.
"This is getting ridiculous. He needs to stop hiding information, especially when there's a squad of Power Rangers we've never heard of who will most likely replace us on this mission, and Bruce will quickly dismiss us" Diana said as she walked in circles. She hated this situation, she most likely wouldn't be able to fight to help people like she wanted to, adding to the fact that now her commander had a girlfriend she'd never heard of.
"They need to stop complaining about anything he doesn't say," John said.
"Aren't you worried that Wayne still doesn't trust us after we won the first battle against Darkseid?" Shayera asked.
"No. I don't consider this as serious as the three dead Rangers. Sure, I'm upset that I didn't know there was a Magic Ranger division, but, his personal life is something we can't invade. In case you didn't know, Kal, he hasn't told you to stop dating Lois anymore, even though you found out she's Supreme Commander Lane's daughter" He explained evenly, but he was glad to remind him of that experience with his girlfriend, which Kal continued to see whenever he could.
"It's bad, John. He says we're a team, and now he won't let us know anything about his life. What is it that scares him so much that he doesn't want to tell us anything about himself?" Diana asked, even more upset.
"That is not a topic of conversation, Cadet Prince" Said Commander Wayne, who had entered the room, although she did not hear him because she was focusing more on his voice than on the door that had opened.
"Why won't you tell us anything after all this time?" Diana asked, still undeterred by her commander's arrival.
"Raise your voice one more time, and I'll suspend you for this mission" He threatened, this time with a monotonous look. "As you just heard, cadets, this is an important mission, the Justice League Dark is investigating and more members will soon come to inform us about Faust's plan. Once that's done, they will decide if we can help them in this mission, and if they say yes, we will help them, except for those who misbehave." He said this last while looking at Diana. "Is that clear, cadets?" He asked with a more cheerful tone.
"Yes, Commander" All five said, including Diana.
"Good, now, go eat. You need energy if you want to help the Justice League Dark" He ordered. The five Rangers quickly left, Diana being the last one, who was stopped by the commander, who put his hand on her shoulder. "And don't you dare defy me, Princess" He warned her.
"I will at some point, Bruce," she said before breaking free from his grip and continuing on her journey.
"Even with this, it's hard to understand what has her so jealous" The commander said in a whisper as he walked back to the conference room, unaware that Zatanna had seen him on the security cameras.
The Rangers had a nice dinner to a certain extent, as they noticed that Diana was angry about something. They didn't find any sense in this, as the commander was acting as usual, but he was going to give them permission to help the special Rangers, if they were the ones who approved it. There was no reason for this behavior in her, or not so extreme. Clearly they didn't know that she still had a goal of finding out what had happened to the commander to make him the way he is, and that couldn't be achieved if that silver Ranger was his girlfriend.
After that, there were no abnormalities, so everyone went to sleep. It was hoped that there would be good news the next day.
I think I already messed up by putting Faust in the place of the Phantom Knight, because I'm adapting the Batman episode from The Brave and The Bold series, but, believe me, I was planning on putting Eclipso, Morgaine le Fay, or even Tala, but it seems to me that any of the three would have made the plot longer and somewhat repetitive showing the Rangers' weaknesses or fears, but because I have that planned for another time, so it stayed that way.
By the way, I want to dedicate this chapter to Kevin Conroy. I don't understand why I didn't do it before, and I regret not having done it, but, it is still surprising and quite sad that the best Batman left us so soon. So, thank you Kevin, you gave us the best audiovisual products with the Dark Knight, and we will always remember you.
That's all for now, until the next chapter. Don't forget to leave your comments and mark the fic as a favorite if you liked it.
NEXT: JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, PART 2.