A Darker Shade of Red Part One
Earth-2825
"Good job, Cadet Landors." Commander Cruger's stoic voice made Sky Tate want to cut off his own ears, and Jack's smug smile and the other ranger's supportive cheers pushed his tolerance to the limits.
There hadn't even been a fight, merely them responding to reports of interdimensional energies, only to find nothing. However, Jack receives a commendation for contacting Dr. Rheas and her team to investigate residual energies. Damn portals have been opening all over the planet lately, letting out monsters and people from other dimensions… but this one was the least incidental. Nothing of note, but Jack was all over it, and Cruger seemed to agree. They should be focusing on the real threat… the troobians, instead of diverting their assets.
Still, he kept still, and nodded curtly, till they were dismissed.
"Hey Sky, everything okay?" Bridge called after him, seeing him turn away from the others.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I just need to take care of something." He lied.
"You sure it can't wait, Sky?" Jack asked, and Sky clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. "I was thinking the team could play light-ball or a holo-game, you know, to wind down from today's fight."
"Some other time, Jack." He forced a smile and he walked away before anyone else could nag him. He had seen Syd pout and Z look suspiciously at him.
Heck, who cared what they thought?
"The team.' Jack's voice echoed in his ears. It should have been his team.
He briskly walked towards the room he shared with Bridge, while the others went along to idle around in the common room.
He waited for the doors to part, and then burst into his room… he could see Bridge's side of the room filled with all sorts of broken machinery and tech, and other random things like children's Rubik cubes, a ton of sponge balls and more pairs of gloves than anyone could ever use in a single lifetime.
He had thought after they made the team, he could have gotten his own room… some space away from the weirdness that was the green ranger.
Sure, Bridge was a nice guy, but he was a lot.
And like everything, Jack robbed him of that too.
He took off his jacket, and tossed it on the bed. The blue stripes on it infuriated him.
It should have been red.
He had broken all test records in the history of the Academy, even that of his father's.
He had glowing recommendations from all their combat trainers, academy instructors, and field training officers.
He was the best S.P.D. had, after the A-Squad.
He should have stayed the leader of the B-Squad, and got the red ranger morpher, not the second rate morpher Cruger gave him.
He slammed his own morpher on the table.
"Damn it!" He yelled.
Why was life always so unfair towards him?
First, his father was taken away from him? Sure, it was a risk… he died in the line of duty, but he was one of the five ranger casualties since the C2D war.
He had lived most of his life clutching on to the faint memories he had of him, of listening to the few home video clips that still had his voice and remembering his face from old photographs.
Other kids his age still had both their parents, and while he tried to make his peace with that fact, it still hurt.
He had devoted his entire life to honour his father… to become as good as he had been, and maybe even surpass his legend…
However, the morpher that should have been his, now belonged to Jack… a thief… someone who did not have even a fraction of the training or education he had… someone who was a criminal for heaven's sake!
Cruger had not only included two criminals into their ranks, but also made one the freaking red ranger!
It was an insult to everything S.P.D. stood for!
"Screw it!" Sky cursed. He had half a mind to just leave and transfer to another outpost… somewhere he was guaranteed to be given the respect he deserved. The only thing stopping him was that Earth was his home… the same planet his father had sacrificed his life to defend.
It was against protocol to refute a commander's judgement, but everything Cruger had done was against protocol.
Jack and Z deserved to be behind bars… or at least in a rehabilitation center. They had robbed countless shops and institutions. Sure, they painted themselves as altruistic "Robin Hood" types, who stole from the rich to give to the poor… But they still committed crimes!
If it were anyone else, they would be seeing years in prison.
He didn't get why Cruger pardoned them and made this sham of a work release program.
What the heck did that senile dog see in them?
What did Jack have that he did not?
"You are right. The world has wronged you…" A voice whispered… a slimy, slippery, patronizing voice.
He whipped around, only to find the room empty aside from him, but the voice was still slithering in his head.
A condescending chuckle.
A telepath, maybe? He thought. But using telepathy without explicit intimation was against the rules, besides the only telepath he knew within the base was a rafkonian refugee in the D-Squad, and their telepathy was tactile in nature.
"Yeah, rules… When is the last time someone followed rules in this base?" The voice snarked, and Sky gulped, finding himself agreeing. "Yeah, I am not a telepath… not exactly. You don't need to worry, kid, I am not your enemy."
Maybe, he was imagining all this due to being tired and bitter…
"You are not going mad, Sky Tate. I am very real."
It was then, Sky noticed the crimson blob stuck to his sweatshirt.
"What the hell?" He muttered, trying to swat it away, only for it to expand, spreading over his shoulder and arm like a second skin. He tried to generate a force field, and no sooner as a few blue sparks had escaped his arm, a thousand scarlet tendrils burst out from the blob, covering his entire body in a cacoon.
"I am sorry for this inconvenience, kid, but can't have you prying us off, before giving us a chance."
The voice was louder now, and clearer… It was as if there were multiple voices speaking at once, that somewhat reminded him of the warbling speech patterns of aquitians.
He tried to yell, but the slime had gagged his mouth.
"You and I, we are the same, kid. You dedicated your entire life to your truth, so did I, but the world… they called us crazy!" The voice became increasingly more manic, and while Sky felt fear, much to his chagrin, he found himself empathizing. "Look at you. You gave up everything fun to ensure law and order exist, and then you were slighted by your commander. Let me tell you a truth… the law isn't real. You gotta fight to make things right."
Sky wanted to protest, but then images of everything going on in the world flashed in his mind. All of which were from news reports.
The injustices in the world, that SPD hadn't acted on, because of political reasons.
The rampant corruption.
Or the naïve stupidity, in case of Cruger.
"You want to fix things. You cant rely on space cops for that. You followed the rules to be the best… where did that get you, buddy?"
The image of his ranger suit flashed, particularly the '2' symbol on his suit.
"Don't you want to make your dad proud, Schuyler?" The voice leered. "He sacrificed his life to save the world, and SPD… they are squandering it. You devoted yourself to this organization, and what did they do? They gave your birthright to a street rat, a thief… You want to save the world. You don't need that team. You don't need Bridge and Syd, your so-called friends who chummy up to Jack, despite knowing what he has denied you."
Sky felt bile rising to his throat.
It was true.
He couldn't even talk to his best friends about it, without them telling him he was being too critical of their new friends. That everyone deserved a second chance… That Jack and Z had a rough childhood… Well, so did he, but he didn't become a criminal! They chose this life, and now instead of being behind bars, they are being rewarded with morphers!
He was all alone. No one understood him. To them, he was just jealous.
"I understand you, Schuyler." The voice had changed… twisted into something familiar that it hurt. It had become his dad's voice.
"You don't need Bridge, Syd or Commander Cruger to tell you who you should be… You can be your own hero, and I will be with you all the way."
The image of the red ranger appeared before him. The ranger's helmet reeled back to reveal his own face. A face that was happy and content.
Tears escaped his own eyes, and the gag over his mouth disappeared.
"You want to wear red. I can arrange that. You don't need Cruger for that. You just need to trust me. I wont force you to commit to anything, buddy, but be honest with yourself. Do you want things to carry on as they are, and fight under someone unqualified like Jack, or do you want to make a real difference out there?"
"Yes." He said, his voice broken.
"That's all you needed to say, Schuyler." The voice laughed, and the cocoon melted.
"What…" He muttered, able to see past the meshwork of red ropes again, but he was still wearing the thing.
Symbiote, the voice corrected.
He saw himself in the mirror. In a red skin tight suit, which showed his muscular frame rather than concealing it.
He felt powerful, but it was different than the feeling that the Grid offered. He might wear red, but he wasn't a true red ranger.
"Not yet, anyway." The voice said. "You know what you need to do, Schuyler. Take what should have been ours."
"What do I call you?" He asked.
"We are now one, Schuyler. We will be the force that fixes what is wrong in the world. WE ARE CARNAGE!"
Hope you liked this and please review.
This is an idea I had for a LONG time. I had previously used it in an old story "Rise of the Dark Rangers," which is now archived under "Sentinel's Vault in ao3, but decided to revisit the idea, and it does make more sense in the IC!verse.