[TheFightingSpirit]

Incursion Thirteen: Undercovered.

The bleached white, bone mask burst through the library’s front door and out onto the concourse. Brad and Ken Chased after, staying hot on it’s tail as it tore across campus. The mask flit here and there; close but just out of arm’s reach, or way above their heads, past windows and over roof tops. Yet still the mask stayed in sight. If ever there was a monster that liked to taunt them, this mask was it.

It flew straight out of the gates, hanging in the air for a moment, flashing it’s toothy grin, before taking off down the road at speeds such that the rangers couldn’t keep up.

The others joined them from the opposite direction, panting and out of breath.

“We lost ours too,” said Robert, clutching at his chest.

“Where the hell did they come from?” gasped Brad.

“You get one chance only to answer that.” Ken shook his head and smiled momentarily. “It’s bloody obvious.”

“Well, sure,” Brad replied, “But why would the Black Water possess a couple of ancient masks. Just to lead us on a chase?”

Maria sighed. “Why do they do anything they do…? Maybe there isn’t a point this time.” She’d not been keen to join the rangers in this fight, but her morals gave her no choice.

“Besides antagonism and terrorism, you mean?” Allison pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed for Catherine.

“Yeah. That,” Maria said, folding her arms.

Allison told Catherine what she needed to know, and they took off in pursuit before they lost their lead.

o0o

The rangers tracked the two masks down to the Fort Lowsdale Natural History museum by pure chance.

Catherine, upon getting the call from Allison, had set out on to generate her own leads on the matter.

The masks were originally in a private collection. According to local shop owners, they’d found their way into the antiques market about two weeks ago. While the others were out canvassing the town for clues, she went to interrogate the private collector at his house in the north.

He opened the door on the first knock. Catherine knew the CCTV cameras couldn’t have been just for show.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Lieutenant Moses, with the Agency.” What he didn’t know about the Agency’s inner politics seemed to work in her favour. This appeased him enough that he let her inside. She continued: “I’ve come to inquire about a pair of artifacts I believe are owned by you.”

“The masks?” He gasped. A fever seemed to pass over him like the cold sweat on an addict’s brow. “You’ve found my masks?”

He must have really liked his collection.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “That’s what I’ve come about.”

“Oh, I see…”

“When did you last see them?”

“Ah well, that’s easy.” He pulled a cloth rag from his pocket and turned to polish the sculpture sitting not far behind him. “I struck a deal with the history museum… and the university, can’t forget them. I thought, you know what James? It’s such a shame no one can enjoy these these treasures you have. Well, the museum were over the moon to host my exhibit on the ancient peoples, you see. So I packed up my displays ready for the courier to come in the morning, and we loaded them into his van and… that’s last I saw of them. You’ll find them, won’t you?”

“Of course we will, sir,” she replied. “It’s our job to protect the people of our great nation after all.”

He frowned. “Protect? They’re just masks…”

“Yes, uh, you see, we think you might be a target of a cat burglar. We’re not all about the Black Water,” she lied.

The Black Water must have intercepted the courier in transit, that much was clear to her. Catherine made her leave as quickly as she could, not wanting the collector to get too suspicious of her motives. If he got too curious and decided to contact the Agency, the mission would be a bust, General Bryant would swoop in and that, as they say, would be that.

o0o

After relaying her findings to the others, she decided it would be best to pick up the trail at the museum after all. Surprisingly, it paid off. They found the masks at their rightfully intended places in the exhibit.

A guard let them past the barriers to inspect the room, though he assured them no one had been in or out since the curator and the labourers were in to set up the displays.

Robert shook his head. “Too easy…” he muttered.

Maria spotted movement in the corner of the room and readied her morpher. They followed suit.

“What was that?” whispered Brad.

“Me.” The curator stepped out of the shadows between the two mannequin heads, upon which sat the masks. He lifted them up by the straps. “I assume you’re looking for these? Well, they’re in good… hands.”

His skin turned black. His suit fell away as his body elongated. The masks merged with his hands, and grew eyes in place of the lack of them on his totally featureless face.

“I guess they did get to the museum after all,” said Robert, shaking his head.

The rangers formed a line and crossed their arms at their waists.

“Cross Form!”

In a multicoloured burst of magi power, their armour materialised.

The mask monster jumped at them, spitting globs of black water from the toothy mouths of the bone white masks.

The rangers rolled under the shots, blocking them from hitting the displays. If the Black Water could fuse the curator with an inanimate object that who’s to say it could do the same again with something else, or in fact bypass the need for a living element altogether.

“Resonance advent!” Yellow Cross launched a pulse of supersonic sound at the monster. It sailed over the curators left shoulder and blew a chunk out of the wall. “Heh, whoops…”

Red Cross clapped her on the back as he passed. “Hey, at least you didn’t get the masks.”

With his fists clad in iron advent metal he laid into the mask monster, punching holes straight through his semi-liquid body. When that seemed to get him no where he switched out the metal of his Iron Advent for a far simpler, “Flame Advent!”

The masks flew from the monster’s hands before the flames spread to them.

Blue Cross tagged him out, and doused the monster in a Flood Advent before it could recover and reunite with its ‘hands’. The ichor peeled away from the curator’s unconscious body and leaped toward the masks circling overhead.

Catherine dashed forward to get the man to safety.

Without the curator as a guide, the monster reformed as a shapeless mass, the masks floating somewhere within. Occasionally one or both would surface to sneer at them before dipping back beneath the surface.

The blue ranger lashed out in anger. “Storm advent!”

He scored a direct hit with his lightning. Paralysed, the monster dropped limp to the floor.

When the black water evaporated, and left behind the masks undamaged, White Cross sighed “You got lucky, Ken…”

“Had to do something.”

o0o

The next morning, Robert got a call from the restaurant. Almost as soon as he picked it up, his face fell and he slipped off into the hall.

The Powel siblings looked over from the couch.

“What’s all that about?” said Ken.

“How should I know...” Allison shrugged. She stood and went to the kitchen to wash her cereal bowl.

Robert returned before the minute was up with, of all things, a smile on his face.

Ken bit first. “So?”

“So, I quit my job.”

Allison appeared nearby with her hands on her hips. “Since when is that a good thing, Rob?”

“I means I don’t have to bother with it anymore.”

“You’re forgetting we’re undercover.” As if she couldn’t decide where was best for them, she crossed her arms over her chest then placed them back on her hips.

“I’m totally not…”

“If I know you like I think I do…” She sighed. “You just... Okay, you can’t be seen as a full time cross ranger. Guys our age have jobs and pay bills.”

“And guys our age are sometimes fired and on the job market,” he countered.

Ken had sidled over to the kitchen and dutifully buried himself in the wash-up his sister had left.

“You don’t get it!”

“How do you know I don’t get it?”

“You’re so blase about everything,” she said with a stamp of her foot.

“You know me by now Allison. You know this doesn’t mean I’m ignoring what matters most.” He placed the phone back in its cradle. “I’m a cross ranger first. My job is to protect people and save the world.”

“You are going to search for a new job.” It wasn’t a question. “We can’t afford to be found out yet.”

Robert shrugged. “Of course I’m going to get a job. Nothing to it… I didn’t like the restaurant anyway. I can cook, sure, but its so not for me.”

She grunted in frustration and grabbed her coat from its peg by the door. “I’m going out for a bit.”

“Oh, okay,” he replied with little interest.

Allison rolled her eyes, and left, slamming the door behind her making Ken jump.

He looked up to see if the coast was clear. “Is she gone?”

“Yeah,” said Robert with chuckle. “You can come out of hiding now.”

“I wish she wouldn’t get so serious about these things.”

“It’s in her nature.”

Ken grinned and shook his head. “Don’t worry, she doesn’t hate you.”

“Could have fooled me.”

Robert liked that she called him out on things. He liked a lot about her in fact, and her near constant anger at his apparently childish antics (according to her at least) didn’t detract from that. Her heart was in the right place even when she was being a bit of a bitch.

A voice of reason and an idealist, that was Allison. Brad, the average young man. Ken, the stoic thinker. Catherine, the heart and the strategist. Maria, the warrior. Everyone else had their logic and strategy, while Robert felt he was more suited to action. And really, that’s what made the team work so well.

Even when they found themselves at each other’s throats...

He shook his head and joined Ken on the couch. “How long do you think it’ll take for the landlady to come find me?”

“Why would Bryant keep her employed now?”

Robert mused on this for a second. Ken had a point. With the Agency casting them out, they had no need of someone posing as their landlord. Unless... “To spy on us, perhaps?”

“Maybe we should go check on that...” Ken said.

o0o

They rushed down the stairs to apartment one on the ground floor, and hesitated, before knocking.

“What do you want?” came a voice from inside.

Ken looked at Robert. He took the lead and spoke first. “We just want to talk.”

The lock clunked over and a bedraggled face peered at them from the crack made when the door hit the limit on it’s security chain. The landlady’s eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks red, dark circles under her eyes.

“We’ll make it quick,” said Robert. “Look, we know you’re with the Agency and all and you must have heard that-”

“Was with them,” she slurred. She must have been drinking.

Ken blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I doubt I need to tell you rangers but the general is cutting people loose. He’s replacing us all ith his sodding, so-called elite.” She unhooked the chain and opened the door further. “Don’t worry, I won’t chuck you out of the building. In fact, I want to get back at that arsehole, for ruining my career, as much as you lot do. So, practical upshot, I still don’t like you, but the enemy of my enemy and all that crap. Yeah?”

Robert smiled, chuckling at an amusing image in his mind. “And here I thought you were going to shout at me for quitting my job.”

“You quit? After what I did for you?” Rage built in her eyes.

He held up his hand in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Truce, truce. I’m gonna to use the spare time to beat Bryant.”

She shook her head, “I have a business to run now. All I care about is you three paying your rent. Do that and you can do whatever you damn well fancy. Goodnight.”

She slammed the door in their faces. The chain lock jangled back into place, and the deadbolt clunked back over.

The two shared a look.

“So, Bryant is laying people off. Interesting…” Ken raised an eyebrow.

“You thinking we could use that to our advantage?” said Robert.

“You read my mind.”