[TheFightingSpirit]

Incursion Twelve: Darkest.

Robert seriously thought about going to the hospital, but it was pointed out to him that questions might be asked. Five people; three young adults and two military officers, all in various states of hurt.

Instead they retired to the apartment.

“What the hell?” Brad cradled his arm, bruised and sprain from the fight. “Seriously. What the hell?!”

Ken had so far kept emotionally distant. “If we weren’t cut off before then…”

If you could see anger and betrayal Maria and Catherine would have drowned out the entire room. Robert thought they must have faced the brunt of General Bryant’s deceit. They’d known him the longest. They’d looked to him for guidance.

“General Bryant is Black Cross. He has total Agency control, a massive grudge against us and the Earth still faces the apocalypse.” Robert counted off on his fingers. “Is that about the most of it?”

Allison glared daggers at him as she limped back from the bathroom with the first aid kit. “Are you still being an arse, Rob?”

“I’m just making sure we’re, you know, on the same page.”

Catherine took the kit from Allison and started bandaging her team’s wounds. “The way I see it, we have only one choice. We need to concentrate on defeating the Black Water. Everything else is a distraction…”

Brad winced as she rubbed an antiseptic wipe over his cuts. “Even, what’s his name again? General Bryant?”

“Especially him.”

Maria stood all of a sudden and shoved her stool back under the breakfast bar. They all turned to her. “I’m sorry.”

Robert frowned. “Wait… why?”

“After I brought you in after that thing with the elk, I met with the General and the special committee to discuss… well, you rangers… the quarantine…” She squeezed her eyes closed and set her jaw, fighting for the courage to confess her guilt. “We decided it was best for everyone if you were kept quiet and out of the picture. We thought we had enough to deal with, and at the time I agreed.”

Allison took a stride towards her and enveloped her in a hug. “Whatever you think you did, you’re one of us now. It’s in the past.”

Maria shrugged out of the wholly unwanted hold. “It’s not about thinking I did you wrong. Bryant gave me the deciding vote. I got you and rangers sent out here to Fort Lowsdale.”

“And?” said Ken. “We’d be doing our thing wherever we were based.”

“If I’d said no back then, if I suggested ‘keeping them on a short leash’ you’d still have project status, you’d have all kinds of equipment.”

Robert remembered the weapon blueprints Catherine had shown them. No doubt they were complete considering Black Cross had his blaster.

He finished tying off a bandage and stood. “We don’t need Bryant’s approval. We just have to bust in and take back our stuff.”

Allison rolled her eyes.

“I’m new to this, but…” Brad shrugged. “I’m guessing you don’t just waltz into a military base. Especially if you’re on their most wanted list.”

“He’s got a point, Rob,” Ken agreed.

“Actually,” said Catherine. “We should raid the place.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Oh, now I know you’ve lost your mind.”

“Think about it. Us taking the fight to him is the last thing Bryant would expect.” She passed across to laptop and opened an encrypted blank document. “The General had a major god complex before he went power crazy. He thinks that base is bloody impenetrable.”

Catherine began to type up a plan off the cuff. Maria looked over her shoulder and smiled.

“You may be onto something...”

Brad took a moment get things straight in his mind. “Am I hearing you right? We’re going to break into a military stronghold, headed by a power-mad general with magi powers and an entire army at his disposal, for a few new weapons?”

Ken clapped him on the back with a chuckle. “That’s about the most of it.”

“Oh. Okay… just wanted to make sure.”

o0o

At Lowsdale Holden Junior School, the day was coming to a close. The bell rang and the kids filed out to find their parents and legal guardians.

A shockwave blew the heavy iron gates into the playground and totally shredded the fence. No-one walked through the wreckage, his feet leaving pools of black ichor across the concrete. The black water coalesced into a horde of grunts.

The children fled back to the school building, the teachers urging them on.

“If anyone wishes to be a hero, be my guest, but as of this moment this establishment is belongs to me.” No-one stopped by the front steps and turned to face the road. His voice seemed to carry on the wind for miles. “On the hour, every hour, a child will cease to exist unless…”

o0o

By chance, Brad had been leafing through his phone when he stumbled upon a breaking local news report.

“Guys… we have trouble,” he said. “The Black Water has taken the junior school hostage. He’s asking for us.”

In that moment the rangers forgot their injuries and headed out. There was no time to waste.

o0o

When they arrived at the junior school the place was deserted, aside from No-one and his offshoot grunts standing sentry dead centre of the playground.

The rangers stepped over the iron work rubble of the gate and railings, and stood in a line just metres from No-one.

Two lines of combatants. An old fashioned standoff.

No-one opened his eyes.

“Good of you to join us… shame the hour isn’t up, but no matter.” He slammed his bloated, oversized arm on the ground. He studied Brad and Maria. “More rangers. Joy…”

“Go!”

The grunts, dripping with blackness, leapt forward on No-one’s command.

The rangers dodged and weaved, back and forth, avoiding the infectious touch of the Black Water. They regrouped back at the ruined railings and summoned their morphers.

“Cross Form!”

They swung her arms in wide, opposing arcs of glowing magi power and recrossed them in a plus across their chests. Their armour materialised around them; first the suit and then the helmet showing their combined magi symbols.

“Red Cross.”
“Blue Cross.”
“White Cross.”
“Green Cross.”
“Yellow Cross.”

“Magi Tribe…” They called in unison. “Cross Ranger!”

No-one commanded the idling grunts forward once more, then turned to the school’s front entrance.

Red Cross slammed his fist down like a hammer on the head of a grunt, and spotted No-one heading inside. “Maria, come with me. We have to stop No-one from getting to the kids.”

Yellow Cross dispatched her own opponent and faltered. “What about this lot? We can’t ignore them,” she argued.

“Damn it,” shouted White Cross. “There’s no time for this!”

She tapped Red Cross on the shoulder. The pair pushed through the grunts and into the school building despite Yellow’s insistence.

o0o

The red and white rangers rounded a corner and found the teachers and students holed up in the sports hall. They noticed they’d gotten there before No-one. It seemed their luck had won out.

One of the teachers, a portly older woman, called out to them. “Rangers, help us.”

The pair scanned the cavernous hall for escape routes. Apart from the one they’d just used, there was one other heavy door; a dual fire escape and through-way to the sports field beyond.

o0o

Outside, Yellow Cross quietly seethed to herself. She was used to accepting orders, but not from enthusiastic amateurs.

Annoyingly, he wasn’t wrong about the need to stop No-one from reaching the children, but to split the group two-to-three could give the Black Water the upper hand.

Yellow Cross mentally kicked herself for arguing in the field. She should have known better, but they needed to sort out who made the better leader. Red Cross’ heart was in the right place, he was closer to the team; but she had the training, the experience, the military knowledge…

I may be the new comer… but I’ve been fighting this battle longer than any of them.

o0o

White Cross had just knocked open the rear door and gestured for the students and teachers to escape on to the sports field, when No-one arrived at the other end of the hall. She hurried them outside then joined Red Cross.

No-one eschewed talk and swung his large arm. Red Cross got caught in the side, but braced himself to stop from stumbling. He twisted inside the villain’s reach and punched him in the gut.

No-one grabbed him round the shoulders and threw him aside. He pushed on towards the rear door.

White Cross blocked his way once more, with arms outstretched. “You’re going nowhere.”

“Nowhere indeed,” No-one echoed.

“Flame Advent!” Red Cross roared. Flames splashed across No-one’s broad shoulders. The white ranger summoned a wall of air to protect herself.

Some of the villain’s bandages fell away, revealing a large gash across his stomach, bleeding black. The fire spread to his blindfold. It smouldered, singed and weakened.

White Cross recoiled.

No-one’s face was a mess with a gaping void where his eyes should have been. A third mass of Black Water formed a third eye of sorts on his forehead, barely hiding the jagged bone of his shattered brow ridge.

She was extremely glad the children weren’t there to see it. You couldn’t ignore it. Despite the damage to his mutilated body, he really did look like General Bryant, no doubt about it.

She shook the image from her mind, and thrust her hands forward. “Tornado Advent.” The protective air shield whipped up into a whirlwind and threw No-one into the air.

He landed well past Red Cross with a thud and a crunch of laminated floor board.

The yellow, green and blue rangers arrived and they all surrounded the downed No-one.

“What did you hope to achieve here?” said Red Cross. “Whatever. You’ve failed.”

“You’re troubles have only just started, rangers. You will cease to be, as will your entire race.” He picked himself up. “Mark my words.”

No-one melted into a ball of Black Water and oozed through the floor, making good his escape.

The five rangers shrugged it off and rushed out the back door.

Saving a small group of kids at any cost was more important than defeating the bad guys and saving the town, Yellow Cross saw that now. It still wasn’t the way she would have done it, and she certainly wouldn’t have let No-one get away if she had a choice, but it was what it was.

“At least nothing happened to the children,” said Green Cross.

Red Cross agreed. “That’s a victory in my book.”

Remembering the stares and jeers they got back when Black Water attack the university, they turned to leave, not wanting the limelight. However, a teacher, the portly woman who had called out to them earlier, blocked their passage.

“I don’t care whether the media says you’re a menace, you’ve proven yourself heroes today.” She shook their hands in turn. “I owe you all a debt of gratitude for saving my students.”

White Cross looked at her team mates, then back to the teacher. “Just doing our job, ma’am.”

And with that, they left.

A crowd of parents and guardians, passers-by and curious onlookers had gathered outside the school grounds. Cheers followed the Cross Rangers for miles down the street.

o0o

Robert punched the air. “Doesn’t it feel good, guys?”

“Our enemy escaped when we had him on the ropes. We could have finished him.”

“Do you always have to bring me down Allison?” He shrugged and flopped down on the couch with a frown. “No, you know what? I’m going to celebrate anyway. Let’s go out for a drink.”

He sprung to his feet. “Come on.”

Brad was the first to agree. He managed get to Ken on board with little fuss, and Allison shortly followed. The four of them looked to ‘Lieutenant Moses’ and ‘Captain Austin’ expectantly.

Catherine declined, pointing at her laptop. “I’ve got some things to work on, here.”

“I’m going to stay too,” said Maria.

Robert shook his head. In all honesty, he expected nothing less from those two.

Why so serious all the time? Then again, he was flying far too high on that afternoon’s victory to care.

o0o

Once she was sure they weren’t going to return, Maria turned to Catherine and came straight out with it.

“I don’t like Robert leading.”

Catherine closed her laptop and sighed. “I was wondering when you’d come to me with that…”

“I lead people for a living. He’s a well-meaning amateur.”

“I get what you’re saying but-”

“Do you? Their tactics are sloppy. We’ve got to make the tough decisions if we wanna come out on top!”

“You need to understand something, Maria,” said Catherine, walking away from the breakfast bar. She crossed to the window and looked out on Fort Lowsdale. “Robert, Allison and Ken have been in this together since the first meteor fragment hit, since that very first attack.”

She turned back to Maria. “They’re best friends who’ve been through the hell of refugee camps, death and infection to be here today. They aren’t going to forget all that trust they’ve built in each other and fall in line under you.” She shook her head. “If you want to lead, earn their trust, be their friend, take a back seat and see where it gets you.”

“I can’t believe you’re siding with Robert.”

“I’m siding with neither of you! There’s no time to mess around with petty arguments,” said Catherine.“You need to be one cohesive unit to defeat Black Water. No leaders, no followers. Just one team, one entity and one mission.”

Maria had heard that before. She shook her head and picked up her things. “Call me when you’re ready for the raid. I’ll be there.”

She slammed the apartment’s door on the way out.