JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, PART 2.
10:00
The Rangers woke up in a better mood that day. They knew that the situation with the Justice League Dark was still up in the air, but they would behave, at least for the moment until the Rangers of that magic squad said whether they would help or not. Curiously, the day started quite strangely as there was no training after breakfast, not even flight simulators, which made the Rangers nervous, it seemed that they were going to be replaced, but their worries vanished when they heard J'onn's voice over the speakers, he was calling them to his laboratory.
The Rangers walked quickly to the lab. They wanted to go on missions, but they were being more patient this time.
Once they arrived, Commander Wayne was nowhere to be seen, so this could mean something like J'onn giving them a gift, or doing a surprise Christmas-like exchange, but either way it was good news, or so it seemed.
"Rangers, thank you for coming. I needed you to come here. The commander told me to do it, so give me all your Morphers, please" He told them as he pulled out a metal portfolio and opened it for them to put the Morphers in.
"No way! Bruce ruled us out for the mission!" Diana screamed. The others were about to do something similar, but J'onn stopped them.
"It's not what you think, Diana! I need to get their Morphers back so I can give you new ones" He said, almost shouting.
"Ah" Diana said. "I'm sorry, J'onn. I'm just nervous about this situation" She said, almost embarrassed. After all, she did like J'onn a lot.
"It's okay, Diana. I should have told you to stay calm. But now, put your Morphers in this briefcase so I can give you the new ones" J'onn said cheerfully.
The five Rangers put their Morphers into the briefcase and J'onn put them behind a desk. He then pulled out another metal briefcase and placed it on the table and opened it. He pulled out a Morpho and showed it to the others.
"It looks exactly the same as the ones we had, J'onn" Barry said.
"On the outside but not on the inside" J'onn replied. "Now if you'll let me explain, these Morphers aren't going to change their suits at all, except that they're sturdier now, and the arrest handcuffs, which will now be on their belt buckles when you're transformed" He said pointing to his own belt buckle. "But, the main change is that it would no longer be necessary to call for help to pick up the criminal you arrest, now you can do it with the arrest mode, which can be demonstrated with this training robot" He said this taking out a controller and pressing a button, which made a rather thin gray robot appear in front of him, and was ready to attack the Martian, but before the Rangers could react, he pressed a button that was next to the transformation button, and the robot instantly disappeared and a small card appeared, J'onn picked it up and showed it to the Rangers, who were quite surprised by the technological advancement he was showing them.
"Great job, J'onn" Shayera said.
"Thank you. Outside of these modifications, your Morphers will still function as they did before, you'll need to say "Justice League, activate" to transform and press the same buttons when you need weapons and the super cannon. Any questions?" He asked.
"No, I think we all understand" John said.
"Okay, then I give them to everyone, Diana, Barry, John, Kal and Shayera" He said as he handed them to them. He didn't want a color mix-up, the worst thing would be if John transformed into the pink Ranger.
"Hey, J'onn, why isn't Wayne here?" Kal asked.
"He's busy watching the city. Ranger Zatanna is also keeping watch for any attacks from Faust, but they know that won't stop him" J'onn replied.
"Are you sure he's not making out with the level 60 Sorceress Ranger?" Barry asked mockingly. Even though this made the others laugh a bit, J'onn and Diana stayed quiet, she because she didn't like seeing how he was a totally different person with that Ranger.
"I advise you not to do that, Barry. The Commander wouldn't do something like that, and if he caught you right now, he'd have you crawling in the mud for a long time already" J'onn warned.
"There's no time for that, J'onn. Come with me, cadets. Two members of the Justice League Dark just arrived, and they seem to know what Faust is up to" Commander Wayne said before quickly leaving.
The five Rangers and J'onn left the lab and followed the Commander into the conference room, where Zatanna was standing, but a man a little taller than her had also arrived, along with another a little shorter, but with long red hair; the blonde was thin, while the redhead had a little more toned hair.
"Rangers, report to my cadets" Commander Wayne ordered.
"John Constantine, Gold Ranger of the Justice League Dark" Said the blond Ranger, who, like Zatanna, wore a black uniform, but with part of his leg and right arm having gold sections.
"Jason Blood, Crimson Ranger of the Justice League Dark" He said, extending his right hand to the Rangers of Zone C, who greeted him politely, while Constantine did not extend his hands and only continued to look at the sheets of paper he had brought. Like the other Rangers, his uniform was black with certain parts colored crimson.
"Well, show us what you got with Faust" The commander ordered again, sitting in his chair. No one would stop him from watching the city, even if there were other Rangers in the room, like Zatanna.
"Alright, Zone C Rangers and Commander Wayne, Faust's plan is pretty simple" Constantine said. "Thanks to Zatanna, we discovered that he's using Wagner's horn, a magical instrument that absorbs the life force of the people it targets" He explained.
"What is he going to do with souls? Is he going to create another cursed army?" Barry asked, reminding them of the Phantom Knight.
"No, the plan is much more dangerous" Jason replied. "The Wagner Horn is a hellish device, literally. It belongs to the great demon Astaroth, a cruel demon who was imprisoned long ago in hell by the demon Etrigan and Merlin. Apparently, he will use those souls to escape and unleash his reign of terror on Earth" He explained. What he said had some very interesting parts, but one in particular for Shayera.
"Did the demon Etrigan say so?" she asked.
"Yes, strangely enough, not all demons are bad, and unfortunately, I have to share this with you, but Etrigan is a part of me" Jason replied.
"No way. So, do you have a split personality or is he controlling you?" John asked.
"Etrigan has recently gotten himself under control, but, I need to say certain words that I won't say now, because it's not the right time or situation, but, it's because of him that I can be a Ranger in the Justice League Dark" He explained.
"And don't you dare pressure him into saying those words, Etrigan is no laughing matter, and I'm referring to you, Cadet Allen" The commander warned.
"I wasn't going to say anything" He lied. He really wanted to know what those words were.
"Back to Astaroth, how will he use the souls? I thought they were to be used as soldiers" Kal asked.
"Souls, believe it or not, Ranger El, are energy, and with that energy, Astaroth could gain enough power that neither the normal nor the dark league could stop him," Constantine explained.
"Understood, but now, there is something else implied. What is Faust after with this?" John asked.
"The safest thing is power. Faust has been an enemy, who, at all costs, wants power, and he could get it with Astaroth himself" Zatanna replied.
"The typical deal with a demon" Diana said.
"Exactly, Ranger Prince" Zatanna told him.
"I think there is one last detail, now that you mentioned the souls, I counted Faust's victims, and I see that there are 9 so far" Commander Wayne said. "Do any of you know exactly how many souls he needs to free Astaroth?" He asked.
"Unfortunately, we don't know that, Wayne," Constantine told him. "That horn could store hundreds of untapped souls, and we don't know how much power Astaroth would need, either."
"The only thing that is clear to me is that he wouldn't need that many. Astaroth already knows Etrigan, and he must know that the man he made a deal with must already be on his trail, so the number should be small" The ever-attentive commander speculated.
"Hey, hey, stop. I just remembered something else: did Merlin really exist?" Barry asked again.
"Yeah, it's not a myth like everyone thinks, Ranger Allen," Jason replied.
"Now, the question, will we be able to help in this mission?" Diana asked. This conversation was interesting, but she wanted to know if she could use her strength again.
"I don't know if that's likely, Ranger Prince" Zatanna replied. "You'd be facing an enemy that could defeat them with the wave of a wand or just a glance, so you wouldn't be safe" She explained.
"Well said, Zee" Constantine congratulated her.
"It's not fair. They tell us all this information, and now you tell us we can't help you" Diana asked, almost screaming.
"Silence, Cadet Prince!" Commander Wayne demanded. "Remember that here, they dictate whether you help or not."
"We can help, and I don't care if you think we can't" She explained, approaching him. "The six of us managed to stop Ares when we went to Themyscira" She reminded him.
"Ares was a criminal modified with technology, here we are against magical beings more powerful than you" He said bringing his head closer to hers and narrowing his eyes.
"No, we must help them and I will do so even if you forbid me" She said without hesitation.
"Well, then you're…" He couldn't say 'suspended', because Zatanna interrupted him.
"I think they can help, but not separately" She said.
"What?" The commander asked.
"They could help, but not in separate teams. I think they could help, if we split up, one of our members with one of theirs," Zatanna explained.
"No, Zee. We're Justice League Dark Power Rangers, not babysitters" Constantine complained.
"John, we've been in previous collaborations, and we could learn something from this" Zatanna said, approaching him.
"I support Zatanna on this one. I think it would be nice to have a teammate other than you, John" Jason agreed. "No offense, but you really do get on my nerves sometimes" He added.
This easily calmed Diana's anger, but the commander was still furious at Zatanna's intervention, because now the other Rangers would support this decision, and they already were, and he was about to suspend Diana so she wouldn't misbehave again, but he couldn't do it now, not in front of everyone, and he couldn't deny the support of the Justice League Dark, that would generate conflicts between them and him, much worse than last night.
"I don't want to be a spoilsport, but there are three of you, there are five of us, would one of you take one and the other two take the rest?" Barry asked.
"We're not the only ones, there's me too, and Holland" Kal replied.
"Why do you include yourself among the members of the Dark League?" Shayera asked.
"Don't get worked up, but I'm not the Red Ranger from Zone C" Kal replied. Obviously, the other Rangers were ready to attack, but the commander already knew who it was.
"You're a ghost possessing his body. It's you, isn't it, Boston?" He asked.
"Hello, Wayne" the mysterious ghost greeted, another thing the Rangers were going to ask.
"Do you know a ghost?" Barry asked.
"Meet me? Wayne helped me discover my killer" The ghost replied.
It was true, the ghost that was possessing Kal was Boston Brand, a circus acrobat who was killed during a performance. However, unlike what would happen with any other soul, his was left wandering the planet until he discovered his true potential as a ghost that could interact with the supernatural and physical world as long as he possessed anyone without them realizing it, this at the hands of Commander Wayne himself, when he had to interact with the spirit world and met him. In this way, he joined Zatanna and the Justice League Dark, where he has been ever since, and collaborated with Commander Wayne himself when he discovered his killer. The only bad thing is that the commander had to tell the story to the Rangers at another time, another thing added to the list of things he had to tell them.
"Besides, we know him too, so there's no need for so much fuss" Constantine said.
"Seriously, you have to tell us more about this, Commander. This has become intolerable" Shayera said.
"The priority is a mission to prevent an extremely dangerous demon from escaping its prison and causing its destruction, Hol. We are not here to share our life experiences. Leave it for another time" The commander said. He was regretting having seen Zatanna, and everything he had to tell the Rangers after this mission, his Rangers felt more offended now, but they had to control themselves, and more so when the alarm sounded, luckily for them.
"Do we have to fight skeletons again?" Barry asked, because that was what the monitor was showing.
"They must be Faust's creations, so we can't destroy relics to prevent further destruction" Commander Wayne explained.
"That's pretty obvious, Wayne, but we have to fight now," Constantine said before moving his hands and transporting himself and the other members of the Justice League Dark with him, including Boston, so Kal could move again.
"I support the idea that we go with them," Kal said now that he was free from Boston's control, and he quickly noticed that the other Rangers were no longer there. "And where are the other Rangers?" He asked.
"You were possessed by a ghost that we didn't know about, but the commander did, but now, you are free, and now we are going to fight skeletons created by Faust that are attacking the city," John explained.
"So the Dark League is over there?" Kal asked.
"Yes, and we will go now" Diana said.
"Yes, but only because Ranger Zatara agreed to it before they left, not because you defied me, Cadet Prince" Commander Wayne said before walking back to his chair. "Now go," he ordered. He wasn't going on this mission out of spite. Zatanna had supported Diana and her Rangers, so they were going to go and see how hard it was to fight against pure magic. Obviously, he would go if the Justice League Dark wasn't present, but they were there, and he trusted them to protect his Rangers, and if push came to shove, he would definitely go.
"It's clear that he doesn't want to admit defeat" Diana said.
"Well, Diana, it's time to go. Ready?" Kal asked.
"Ready!" the other four said in unison.
"Justice League activate!" The five of them said in unison and transformed. Right after, they entered the slides and got into their vehicles and headed off to the combat zone.
XXX
It took them three minutes to arrive, but it seemed that they had arrived too late, since all the skeletons had been evaporated, and for the first time, they could see their incredible suits with the colors that they had in their regulation uniforms. Constantine had a rather clever helmet, but with a five-sided star in the shape of a visor, while Jason had the symbol of fire.
"Why did all the fun end?" Barry asked.
"We had to fight pure magic, something you Rangers can't stop easily. Have you forgotten that it was Zatanna who helped you?" Constantine asked.
"That's already happened, and we came to help you, you must not underestimate us" Diana said.
"We don't underestimate you, Ranger Prince. Magic is unpredictable, and even though their suits and weapons have the material that protects them from certain attacks, spells can alter them in even worse ways," Jason said.
"So what? We are here to continue protecting Zone C, and if Astaroth escapes, Zone C will fall as well" Shayera said.
"Yeah, and it wasn't a very nice touch of you to transport us away and leave them behind, John, especially when I encouraged Diana to come with us" Zatanna said, looking at Constantine.
"Hey, I did something nice for them, and you couldn't come back for them now that we were in combat," Constantine replied.
"Contantine, I accepted what Zatanna said, don't do that again" Boston said, taking Kal's body again.
"Boston, stop taking control of the Red Ranger's body" Constantine said.
"Yeah, we were already late because we had to explain what you had done, but thanks for being on our side" John thanked.
"I support the measures I consider correct, and collaborating with the Rangers of Zone C could be advantageous for us. After all, Astaroth is not a threat we can face alone, especially if Faust comes to Hell and frees him" Boston said.
"We'll be fine, Boston," Constantine said, but the ground began to shake and a giant monster made of metal and stones emerged.
"This is surely Faust's work" Jason said.
"It can't be anyone else, Jason" Constantine said.
The Rangers' Morphers beeped, so they had to take them out. It was the commander speaking.
"Cadets, we are already aware of the giant monster, so the jets are already on their way" He told them.
"Thank you, Commander," John said, as Kal was still possessed. "Boston, leave Kal alone. We need him to attack the monster with our jets, which you surely don't fly" John requested.
"Okay, okay. But we'll try to help them on land with something else" He said before leaving Kal.
"Boston possessed me again, and that's why I don't remember the monster above us?" Kal asked.
"Yes, and now we go to the jets" Shayera said.
The Rangers got into the jets and started shooting at the monster. Meanwhile, the Justice League Dark Rangers weren't going to sit still, especially when the monster was magical and the jets' attacks weren't going to do much damage. The commander knew this, but he also knew that the Rangers weren't going to back down again, but he still counted on the Dark League Rangers to keep them safe.
"We can't create our Megazord, Holland isn't here" Constantine said.
"True, but we can create our own vehicles until he arrives. Boston, in the meantime, make sure to distract him when we need to" Jason said.
"Understood" Boston said.
With that, the other three Magic Rangers chanted different spells and turned into different magical creatures, Constantine into a golden lion, Zatanna into a silver eagle, and Jason into a crimson red dragon. Once they finished their transformation, they helped the Rangers, since as they knew from before, their attacks were just like shooting small darts at a rock. The Magic Rangers got to work and attacked, Constantine scratching and biting the monster's back, Zatanna cutting off certain parts of the monster with her sharp wings, and Jason throwing fireballs and sparks at the monster. The Rangers of Zone C had to restrict their attack, since they could not shoot at the other Rangers.
However, the monster wasn't going to give up, so it laid on its back, hurting Constantine, and kicked Zatanna with its foot. Jason counterattacked with a flame from its mouth, but the monster was much faster and grabbed his wing, but the C-Zone Rangers took advantage of this and fired their lasers at the monster, who let go of Jason, and it spat more fire at them. The monster managed to get up and attack Jason again, but Zatanna and Constantine got up again and launched another combined attack against the monster. At that moment, the commander called.
"Cadets, make the arrow, but tell the Dark League Rangers what you are going to do so as not to harm them," he ordered.
"Commander, our attacks are working, but very little" Kal said.
"We couldn't destroy it ourselves" John said.
"You will not destroy it, you will only weaken it, now do it" The commander ordered.
"Understood," the five Rangers said at the same time.
Using the megaphone, Shayera called out to the other Rangers. "Hey, we're going to execute our final attack, step asid," she said.
"What? That's a terrible idea" Constantine asked.
"The commander suggested it, right?" Zatanna asked.
"Yes" Shayera said.
"So, Boston, distract him" Jason said, but he didn't shout to avoid alerting the monster.
Obviously, alerting a monster that they were going to use a super attack would be terrible, since they would be prepared for an attack like that, but not when you have a ghost that can hit many parts of your opponent's body without getting caught. Boston began to fly at full speed and started hitting the monster in certain parts, although he only hit it, since it was not very big, and could not increase its size, but it served to allow the Rangers of Zone C to execute the arrow while the monster was distracted.
With the attack executed, the monster began to stagger and spark, but it was not defeated yet.
"Now you guys!" Kal said, using the megaphone as well.
"Understood!" John said. The three Magic Rangers got into position and called out their special attack.
"Mystic Slash Attack!" The three of them said at the same time, since Boston couldn't execute it, only when he could form the megazord in a magical world and with the five Rangers together.
"Great lion attacks!" Constantine said, as he attacked first.
"Mystic Eagle Slash!" Zatanna said attacking next.
"Incinerator Dragon!" Jason said.
With these attacks, the monster finally fell, leaving a huge explosion in its wake.
"Excellent" Kal said.
"We did it" Constantine said.
"And with our help" Barry said.
"Well, get ashore, we still have to deal with the threat of Faust and Astaroth" John said.
"It's true" Diana said.
When the C-Zone Rangers got off their jets and the Magic Rangers returned to their normal forms, they gathered at the same spot where they had been arguing.
"How will we find Faust?" Diana asked.
"We're on it" Constantine replied.
"Before we answer, couldn't you tell us your powers that allow you to turn into giant zords without needing robots?" Barry asked.
"That's another power we have, Ranger Allen, and we only use it on these types of threats, and we'll might use them against Astaroth, if Faust ever manages to get into Hell, but with your help, that might not be necessary" Jason replied.
"That is if they don't stop him before then" John said.
"I told them we're already on it" Constantine said.
"But this battle was nothing more than a distraction created by Faust, or so it seems. How are we going to prevent him from entering Hell?" Shayera asked.
"We should have taken care of that by now" Constantine said.
"But how?" Diana asked.
At that moment, someone in green emerged from the ground a few meters away and began walking towards them.
"I didn't stop him. I couldn't" The green figure said.
With that, the Magic Rangers ran towards the green figure, even though those in Zone C were somewhat surprised by that green figure.
"Another Ranger?" Barry asked.
"Yes, he is Ranger Holland from the Justice League Dark" Zatanna replied.
"I'm sorry, guys," Ranger Holland said. His suit was similar to the others, except that it was lighter green than John's and had a visor shaped like a tree leaf. "I tracked Faust to his hideout like you guys asked me to, but he found out about me, defeated me, and almost absorbed my soul, but I managed to escape and come to you. We have to…" He explained before fainting.
You were probably expecting a collaboration between the two teams in this episode, but the best part was a fight between the giant jets and zords of the Justice League Dark against Faust's monster, because the fight will come in the next episodes, I think you know. Well, that's all for now.
NEXT: JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, PART 3.