[TheFightingSpirit]

Incursion Fifteen: Genocidal Part 2.

The four rangers regrouped. Their soldier comrades had since exhausted their ammunition reserves and took cover behind the hanger’s heavy machinery store.

The Elite guard stopped suddenly and in one swift motion, reached up to his helmet and yanked it off. He discarded it like it was a burden. Black Water oozed from the stump of his neck. It coated his armour and hardened like a second skin.

Green Cross shook his head. “That’s just wrong.”

“It’s all wrong,” countered White Cross. Images of the refugee camps and the mutants paraded through her mind. “That’s why we have to win.”

There was another question White Cross wanted answering though. If one of the elite guard was a Black Water construct, were they all? And what was General Byrant doing with enemy soldiers under his control.

“All-advent, on my mark,” said Red Cross.

The Elite continued to ooze pitch. More and more layers fell on the previous until a true monster stood before them, a huge immovable hulk of a creature, all torso, shoulders and arms and not a lot else.

“Now! Before it gets moving!”

“Flame Advent.” Red Cross threw out his hands and flame danced forward setting the Elite alight.

“Torrent Advent.” Blue Cross summon a wave of water to knock the beast off its feet.

“Landslide Advent.” Slamming his hands into the ground, Green Cross shook the piles of crates. All it took was one case to fall and the rest followed like an avalanche.

Seeing this, White Cross called on the wind. “Tornado Advent.” Powerful gusts picked up the falling equipment.

The Elite, pummelled from all sides by hundreds of flying objects ranging from small cases to entire pallets, found he had no way of escaping.

“Again!” Red Cross ordered.

The rangers pushed yet more energy in their attacks, this time training everything they had on the Elite.

o0o

Black Cross caught up with Lt. Moses’ squad at the armoury door and blocked their path. “You’re plan was truly transparent.”

Yellow Cross put herself between him and the others. She felt within herself for a thread of her ancestral power and held on to it, not yet ready to let it fly. The tell-tale humming filled her mind.

“And yet I got this far without an army on my side,” Catherine countered. “Doesn’t that prove how much you’ve hobbled this Agency? We were strong once. We could deal with any incursion thrown our way. Now look!”

“It pains me to say, Lt. Moses, that it is you who are draining resources.” Black Cross stood his ground. “We don’t have the time, or money, to focus entire dev. teams on building stupid little toys for your team.”

“Toys that could turn the tide against the enemy,” Yellow Cross scoffed.

“And you,” Black Cross turned to the yellow ranger. “You’re far too eager to jump ship. I knew you’d be trouble from the moment you flew the first two in.”

“You trained me well, sir,” she replied, sneering that last word. “I’m just following my instincts, taking things as they come, trying to wheedle out the winning strategy.”

“Winning strat- listen to yourself!”

“I’m sorry, general. There’s a far better way to beat the Black Water… and it’s not with the Agency.”

Black Cross shook his head. “Then you and I will have to agree to disagree”

He drew his shadow gun in a flash and unleashed a volley that blasted a ring around the Lt. Moses’ squad. The attack kicked dust and metal flakes into the air, shrouding all parties from sight.

From the yellow ranger’s left came a strike to her abdomen. She crumpled but kept her head held high, waiting for any break in the veil, any momentary glimpse of the Black ranger that would allow her to hit back.

One of the soldiers cried out, then another. A hand gun fired twice, one ricocheting off the ceiling, and the second hitting Yellow Cross in the shoulder in a shower of sparks.

"Can’t you see?” Black Cross chuckled. "Don’t you understand? I want you to remember just how long I've been playing this game compared to you. Remember, I trained all of you."

Yellow Cross gritted her teeth. She knew if she looked at her shoulder her armour would be torn, blood oozing from the gash. Looks like we have no protection against Bryant’s shadow bolts…

She heard a whisper in her ear. “Keep him busy. He’s just getting lucky, trying to scare us.”

She nodded and spoke once more. “What are you trying to prove, General? That you’re better than us? That we should fall in line because your ego says so?”

“I see we’re going to have to go over this again.” Black Cross appeared in front of her all of a sudden and tackled her out of the magically-suspended shroud and into the open corridor beyond. He unclipped his helmet and threw it aside. “Come on then, come at me.”

Yellow Cross grasped at the thread of power she’d dropped when the bullet bit into her skin. The low, powerful hum returned. “I’m sorry, sir. If someone has to put you down, I’d rather it be me… Resonance Advent!”

A sonic wave launched from her in all directions, pummelling into Black Cross and knocking him to his knees, blowing away the shroud in the process.

Lt. Moses stood by the armoury door, troops flanking her of both sides. Between them they carried two large, metal hard-cases.

Yellow Cross laughed. She relaxed, the adrenalin flooding her system dispersed and the wound started to burn. “It’s over.”

“How?” Black Cross stood, unsteady on his feet. “How is new gear going to help you out of a base packed full with soldiers loyal to me?”

The yellow ranger shook her head. “Sir... This is the point where you’re supposed look behind you.”

The rangers, fresh from their battle with the Black Water construct, stepped past the hobbled Black Cross and joined Lt. Moses.

“To be completely honest, General,” the lieutenant said. “We’re not here to hurt you. We came for what’s ours and that’s it.

“Our job is out there, protecting people who can’t protect themselves from creatures of the dark, from evil, from crazy mutant-alien diseases... That’s something I think, no, I know you live by.” She sighed. “The thing that’s pointless, sir, is your little vendetta against us.”

“Little?” he growled. “You standing in the way of-” He close his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. “No, we’re done here. Go. Leave before I have you killed.”

A dark, rolling cloud of shadow surrounded him and when it dispersed he was gone, along with his discarded helmet.

“That was…” Red Cross started.

“Easy?” finished Lt. Moses. “Yeah, but I kind of figured his mind wasn’t in it.”

o0o

Later that day, they sat around the kitchen island. Catherine unlocked and flipped open the two cases.

Inside sat five weapons, each with their own colour scheme,

First, a red and grey shafted spear with a large diamond-edge head. Runes of Magi origin ran along it’s length. Second, a set of swords, white for the most part with golden detailing. Third, a deep ocean blue blaster with jagged purple bolts along it’s length. The fourth were a pair of yellow and red tonfas, and, taking up the entirety of the second case, was the fifth, a large green hammer with with blue binding holding the head to the shaft.

“So this is it, huh...” said Ken, picking up his blaster and weighing it in his hands.

Allison scowled. “What do you mean it? We went through a lot to get these.”

Maria winced when Robert finished tying off her bandages, then rolled her eyes. “I for one sure hope it’s worth it. You know, I don’t fancy getting shot at anymore.”

“They are, trust me,” said Catherine. “My dad once said a magi’s power is limitless, but only when they have a way to focus that power. Got me thinking.”

Robert took hold of his spear. The shaft was short, almost too short. He turned it over in his hand. “You saying we get more powers?”

“Well, I can’t say for certain…” She shrugged. “but to be honest, I hope so. All I can do is follow dad’s theories as close as I can.”

“We’ll know what to do when we need them…” said Allison.

Ken placed the blaster gently back on the breakfast bar. “You sure?”

“I can feel it, when I concentrate on my swords. A voice, it’s quite faint, but it’s telling me what to do.”

Robert’s eye went wide. “Like when we first transformed and we knew just what to do and how to do it!”

Catherine nodded. “Ancestral memory. Not too far fetch considering what we’ve been through.”

Robert closed his eyes and focused. At first he felt nothing, no voices, no sudden knowledge like a fog had lifted from his brain. He tried harder, remembering exactly how he felt just before he first manifested. A feeling of duty, of justice. He grasped at that memory, held it tightly in his mind’s eye and knew what to do.

He focused his power into the spear and shook it sharply downward once. The two ends of the spear shot away from him, the shaft doubling in length at least.

Knowledge of his newest weapon wasn’t all he felt. “I think you’re right, Catherine. We will have more power. It’s there, waiting inside us somewhere.”