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04-09-2014, 02:44 PM | #31 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Eighteen: Thrill Seeker Pitch black ooze seeped from the corpse of the monk the monster had murdered. It drew upwards into a pillar, becoming more and more humanoid until there stood a duplicate of the dead Trinity monk. The copy drew up its hood and stepped away into the night. o0o That very same night the ‘monk’ found himself on the Fort Lowsdale university campus. No one he passed batted an eyelid at the way he was dressed, but never the less he felt he ought to do something a bit more to fit in. He liquified and slid from the cloak into the drains. He made his way up hill towards the library, skipped into the cold running water and lay in wait. o0o Ken shouldered his bag and stepped out of the apartment. Being the last out, as always, he locked the door, before crossing the landing to Brad’s place so they could walk in together. After a while he began to wonder whether he was coming at all. Ken tried the door and found it unlocked. “Brad? You in here?” A clattering and a loud thump sounded from the bedroom. “Hm what? What’s happening?” “It’s Ken. And we’ll miss the lecture if you don’t hurry up.” “Oh... sorry…” Brad tumbled out of his room, his hair a wild tangle of red. “Hey, it’s not my problem.” Ken shrugged. “Would you like five more minutes?” “That would be gr- hey... wait a minute!” He disappeared back into his room. Ken folded his arms. Maybe he could miss a few classes but Ken didn’t have that luxury. He’d never meant to go to university in the first place, but if the job called for it… Yet that begged the question: Was there any point in keeping up this ruse if they were cut off from the Agency? Who was it helping now? Their landlady had defected from Bryant’s regime, and had been working mostly to keep the military itself away with insistent calls of top secret and classified. It wasn’t an easy situation considering. Well, I suppose it keeps the other tenants off guard, doesn’t it. Brad reappeared not a moment later fully dressed with his notebook in hand. He grinned. “You ready?” “Are you?” o0o After their lectures Brad and Ken decided they would spend some time in the library getting a head start on their frankly ridiculous load of coursework. The way things were going at home, with the appearance of Manuarii, aka CrossTrinity, they knew they’d have little free time to do so later. They barely had time to properly patrol for Black Water incursions any more between helping Allison and her colleagues set up and construct the replacement refugee camps. This was quickly becoming more of an operation than the five of them couldn’t handle alone, even with those who defected from the Agency after the raid, even with the addition of the magi emperor and the Order of the Trinity. Ken began to wonder whether pulling the Agency apart was really worth it. Wasn’t one despot’s regime better than none at all…? Or two, or even three disparate entities fighting against each other, driving at the same goal but getting in each other’s way? Something need to be done, and Ken wondered if the rangers needed to take a step back and let the civilian parties deal with refugee camps and morale and rebuilding. Magi were uniquely suited to defeating mutants and monsters. Why not do what they did best? To top it all off, General Bryant had been far too quiet since his defeat. That meant only one thing. He was building up for something big; training more of his elite perhaps. “I said, what do you think about this?” Brad’s voice snapped Ken from his inner monologue. “About what?” He shrugged. “Forget it, not important.” “No Brad, go on.” Ken frowned. Something about his fellow student and ranger rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps it was the way he acted like all this coursework was important, or the way he seemed to enjoy being a ranger. Brad sighed. “Let me guess. You were think about you-know-what again, weren’t you?” “Why shouldn’t I?” Brad lowered his voice some. “We may have a duty, mate, but the way I see it we’re still two young guys who should be doing young guy things.” “And that’s coursework, is it?” “Living! Being normal! Watching… I don’t know, RWBY or something!” Ken stood with abrupt purpose. “We’re not normal guys, Brad. Stop treating this like a game.” “You calling me a thrill seeker?” Brad stood also and squared up to him. Not far away the librarian hissed at them to be quiet and gestured angrily to the door. Ken grunted in frustration and charged out into the reception. They all had their reasons for fighting, reasons that were all equally valid he supposed. Allison want to protect the people. Robert felt a need to deal out justice where no one else could. Maria had found herself part of a corrupt organisation, but still kept true to her morals and upbringing and gave up everything she’d worked for her entire adult life to do what she thought was right. Ken simply could not understand Brad. To do something different because you were bored with your present life? That just wasn’t good enough. He went to the bathroom to cool off, before he did something he’d regret. o0o Brother Gray met with the emperor Manuarii in the back of a cafe in downtown Fort Lowsdale. They wanted to discuss many of the same issues that plagued Ken and the rangers. “There must be a way for us to establish a true support network, for the people if anything,” said Brother Gray. “In society’s current shape, well, we can’t last long.” “We have the start of something good here, brother,” replied Manuarii. “The Order. The Rangers. The aid workers.” “Then the only real issue is the tainted magi and his remnant Agency?” “There can only be one course of action, and whether wrong or right we have to push forward.” The magi emperor’s quest to find the magi descendents had taken him all over the world but had kept him totally disconnected from the real world. He had spent some time studying the situation yet, despite his confidence, he felt like some neophyte newcomer. “Black Cross represents an obstacle to be overcome...” Another of the Order, one Brother Edwards, rushed into the cafe short of breath and gave a curt bow. The other cafe patrons looked to him with suspicion, but he didn’t care. “Hanson still hasn’t checked in.” “Search everywhere,” replied Gray. “That boy is prone to flights of fancy...” “Taken care of.” Edwards left as quickly as he’d arrived. Manuarii hung his head. And so it begins… the long slog of war. o0o Ken burst into the bathroom and waved his hand under the tap’s motion sensor. No water. He waved again. Still nothing. He tried a few more sensors down the row to much the same effect. Why is it that things never seemed to go right when you were angry and upset? Murphy’s law in practice. He really didn’t need that right now. The door to one of the stalls slammed open, making Ken jump. Brad stepped out, wearing a navy jumper instead of the hoodie Ken remembered from a couple of minutes ago. “Did you follow me in here?” Brad didn’t reply. He grinned and lashed out at Ken with the back of his hand. Ken easily parried the blow and caught another. “What are you trying to do, exactly?” “Defeating a magi warrior.” Brad sweeped Ken’s legs out from under him. He tumbled into the basins which chose that moment to do what they were made for. Every tap in the bath opened at once, overflowing and soaking Ken. He pulled himself to his feet, being careful not to slip on the floor. “Is this all because I shouted at you?” “No” Ken caught Brad’s reflection in floor and noticed something was different. “Since when did you have a tail?” Fake Brad spun and slammed his tail into Ken’s stomach. “Alright… I get it.” His morpher shimmered into existence. “I don’t want to do this in the library, but it’s time to say goodnight before you cause anymore trouble. Cross form!” Blue light lit up the small bathroom, bouncing off the water-soaked floor and walls and transforming him into Blue Cross. The real Brad shoved open the bathroom door at that moment. “Holy cow…” He morphed into Green Cross and fell into his stance beside the blue ranger. They looked at each other. He had considered leaving Blue Cross to fight alone, but found he couldn’t. “Okay, before you start shouting at me again Ken, I’ve lived through exactly the same terror for the past five years as everyone else in this stupid messed up world of ours. So don’t tell me I’m ignorant. If you understand Rob, I know you can figure me out. Are we cool?” “For now,” Blue Cross replied. He feigned scratching an itch on his chest, and pointed his index finger at the floor. The green ranger nodded. “Now that you two are done talking, I’m going to kill you,” the shapeshifter said. “Where are you friends now?” “Having a better time than us?” Green Cross quipped. “Torrent Advent!” they called in unison. As they thrust their hands forward, the water flooding onto the floor reacted to their call and crashed into the fake Brad and blasted him clean apart. Blue Cross shook his head and released the water from his enchantment. “They really don’t make them like they used to...” “They used to mutate armadillos into big ugly behemoths.” Their armour dematerialised. Ken looked at Brad and raised his eyebrow. “The only time I make a witty action hero one-liner, and you miss the point?” o0o When they got back to the apartment Brad joined them. Ken filled the others in on what had happened at the university, and how the Black Water could now apparently imitate people down to nearly the finest detail. Robert frowned. “That’s disturbing.” “To say the least...” added Maria. Ken turned to Catherine. “So what do we do?” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and massaged the bridge of her nose. “Well, at some point we’re going to have to crawl back into the belly of the beast.” Maria got up from the breakfast bar and crossed over to the couch where the lieutenant sat. “Another raid?” “Nope.” “End game?” She said, speaking a code word the two of them had agreed upon weeks ago. Catherine nodded slowly. “I spoke to the Order earlier today. Both Brother Gray and Manuarii agree that the General and his Agency guys are the number one variable we need to squash before we move against No-one and Black Water.” Robert didn’t want to say it but he agreed. He hadn’t signed up for all out warfare against separatist branches of his own country's military, neither, he figured, had Allison and the others, but you had to do what you had to do. “Alright. I’m in.” |
04-16-2014, 09:29 AM | #32 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Nineteen: Royal Trinity The flames coursed across the hybrid-type monster’s flesh. CrossTrinity, Yellow Cross and Red Cross lowered their weapons, pleased that a three-way flare blitz attack had solved the problem. The red ranger slumped, tired from the fight. “These guys just keep popping up, don’t they?” “I make that the third in two days,” said Green Cross. Indeed, numerous Black Water creatures had found their way into town over the past week all mimicking human beings… albeit badly. It was beginning to remind them all of the city, only here they had no quarantine wall to keep the bad guys out. How they got here baffled Green Cross. After all they’d been extremely careful to ensure no infection took hold. “Whether our focus is on the Black Water or General Bryant, it doesn’t matter,” said CrossTrinity. Since he’d started working with them, the rangers had found him to be quite inciteful. Strangely, he never once attempted to wrest control from Red Cross or Lt. Moses. “Both will come at us until we finish this. Our way.” o0o The next day the rangers went out into the wild scrub land just outside Fort Lowsdale to train with their weapons. On a particularly dry and windy day like today, the arid, nutrient-poor soils whipped into a frenzy of stinging sand particles. They were very glad for the protection their helmets afforded them. CrossTrinity, shifting back into his neutral base form, called them together after they’d warmed up a little. “I have a little something I want to teach you five.” He gestured for Catherine to bring over the metal cases the weapons had been stored in since the raid. “I’d like you all to hand your weapons back to Lieutenant Moses here. She will then lock the cases.” “How are we supposed to train with these things if you won’t let us use them?” asked Red Cross.. “Patience.” Minute irritation showed in his voice, but was swiftly crushed. “I’m getting there.” The rangers did as they were told, and Catherine locked the cases. She placed them on the ground beneath a thorny shrub about ten metres away as instructed. “First, you must watch me.” CrossTrinity held his hand above his head. After a few seconds it began to glow in his signature tricolour. A streak of pure red energy shot through the top of one of the cases and into his hand. As it solidified into Red Cross’ spear, the intricate tribal lines on CrossTrinity’s armour turned red. “There is no need to always carrying your weapons into battle. This way you can call on them whenever you need them, wherever you happen to be.” He moved back to the cases and put away the fire spear. “It’ll take some practice, but you should have no problem calling them over these sorts of distances. The ultimate goal is for you to be able to feel their presence anywhere in the world and pull them through the aether to your hands, no matter what.” “That sounds a little improbable.” Green Cross peered at the cases all those metres away. It broke logic to think solid matter could be pull through solid metal, let alone over any distance imaginable. “You just have to visualise it,” said CrossTrinity. “You are strong magi, my friends, you already have the power to do this.” After a few hours, when they had just about gotten the hang of summoning them over ten metres, CrossTrinity teleported over to the cases and sent them even further away. It seemed unfair, but sure enough they could still feel their presence. It took some considerable effort to accomplish the second time round now the goal posts had moved but they tried their best. o0o Catherine cornered CrossTrinity once the wind died down and he sent the others to take a break. He let his transformation reverse so they could talk face to face. “Why are you doing this for us?” she asked. “Why shouldn’t I?” Manuarii smiled. “This is my calling.” He was quite a disarming man. Whether that were his intention or not, Catherine found herself rather charmed by him. “You know, it’s just, you’re not like I’d imagine an emperor to be… and I’m not exactly used to people jumping at the chance to help out with what we do.” “You do certainly appear to be social pariahs. Although...” He chuckled. “Put it this way, I’m not a government man. I’m not even military. Back in my home country I’m a teacher, a mentor. The Order tell me you deserve more support, and I’m very happy to provide.” In the background, Catherine could hear Robert talking quite passionately, but it was too far and too difficult to make out what he was saying. She took Manuarii’s hand and shook it. “I’m glad someone finally recognised our need. It’d be near impossible to accomplish this goal without help.” Robert once again broke her concentration. She saw him running towards them, shouting about... still nothing she could make out, but he was also pointing at something. They followed his eyeline to a figure in Order robes approaching slowly from the direction of the town. Manuarii frowned. “I left specific instructions to give us privacy.” As the figure got closer his features slid into view. “That’s Brother Hanson… He went missing a few days ago,” he explained to Catherine. “The boy’s always between running off on his own, just give me a second. This shouldn’t take long.” The Polynesian magi strode confidently to intercept Hanson before he interrupted the rangers. Robert and the others joined Catherine. “What do you suppose he wants with Manu?” said Robert. Maria did a double take on him. “Wait, you’re giving him a nickname already? Is that a bit… considering...” He simply shrugged. “I don’t really see the problem.” Alison rolled her eyes. “Do you ever?” A hoarse, gurgling scream cut the air. They spun to find where it came from. “Oh... shit…” gasped Brad. Hanson had grown a barbed tail and thrust it through Manuarii’s chest. The magi emperor’s eyes were wide with the disbelief of unexpected betrayal. He hadn’t even had the chance to reach for his morpher. Ken and Brad looked at each with a horrifying realisation. The shapeshifter they’d fought in the university library clearly wasn’t as dead as they thought he was. o0o A unmarked military jeep sat on the crest of a nearby hill. The soldier running target acquisition lowered his binoculars. “General, Echo Three has engaged the rangers. You’re clear to proceed.” “Understood.” o0o The ranger’s morphers shimmered into being on the back of their hands. “Cross form!” They swung their arms in opposing arcs, the gem’s set into the morphers trailing a magical energy. The light burst outward forming their coloured armour. As the rangers fought to lead the shapeshifter away from Manuarii, Catherine ran to his side. His eyes fluttered and he grasped at his chest in a vain attempt at keeping his life. “Come on, don’t die now!” “If... my time has… come…” Though he choked to get the words out, he seemed to keep his cool. “What do you mean, no, just-” “Shh, Catherine.” He wheezed and coughed, but managed to reach for his morpher. “I con, considered telling you sooner, but I … I wanted to make sure you were the one.” Manuarii touched the morpher to her wrist. The wheel spun and the strap snaked around her wrist. “Lieutenant Catherine M-moses. You are one of the final descendents of the Trinity Clan.” He doubled up in pain. Another coughing fit wracked his body. When it subsided, Manuarii’s body went slack. “I’m the - Are you sure? Hey…” Catherine shook him by the shoulders. “Hey! There has to be some kind of mistake.” Her father would have taken the news with glee. He’d always suspected the family to be descended from the royal line, but she’d never really believed him. Then again she never used to believe that magi existed… Look how that turned out. She closed Manuarii’s lifeless eyes and stood. The shapeshifter had the rangers pinned. She couldn’t deny that somehow the Trinity morpher felt at home on her wrist. I guess I’ll have to, won’t I? In tribute to the man who’d not long given back her hope, Catherine struck the pose she’d seen him use once - one arm raised to the sky and the other to the ground - but before she could morph a shadow bolt struck at her feet making her jump. “Well, well, this is a turn out for the books.” Black Cross appeared behind her. She realised then the opening she’d given him. Then it hit her. Manuarii and the Order were right about one thing, Bryant had to be defeated before he did anymore damage to the country’s ability to protect itself. They’d never said how. Maybe the rangers didn’t have to risk it all to break back into the Agency again. “I guess it’s time we settle this like you always wanted,” she said. “Clan form roulette!” She slid her hand across the wheel and set it spinning. A tri-coloured light overtook her forming CrossTrinity’s base form. The roulette dial clicked to a stop on the blue third and the grey tribal lines across her armour shifted hues to match. Black Cross nodded. “I can’t say I’m impressed, you know.” “I never asked you to be impressed, General.” After watching the rangers train all day in summoning their weapons, the new CrossTrinity hit upon a thought. She concentrated and a blue wrist mounted blaster formed around her free wrist. “And besides, have you seen these powers in action?” “You used to be such a quiet little lieutenant, doing whatever I told you.” He glanced back to see the rangers still held up fighting ‘Echo Three’, and smiled. “What ever happened to that Catherine Moses?” “She grew up.” CrossTrinity snapped her arm out and a torrent of water jetted from her blaster hitting Black Cross square in the chest. “Like I said.” He shrugged it off and levelled his own gun at her. “Not impressed.” He fired a shot that sailed over her right shoulder. She flinched left but took a shadow bolt in the arm and spun to the dirt. Black Cross pressed the attack and fired again and again. CrossTrinity rolled out the way of a blast and spun the roulette dial along a rock that lay in her path. When she sprung to her feet, the designs shifted from blue to red and the blaster gauntlet turned into the fire staff. She hurled the staff at Black Cross and it burst into a ball fire. He ducked beneath and the staff circled back to her grasp. He chuckled and panted. “Okay, I spoke too soon perhaps, but you can’t beat me. You know you can’t. You don’t have it in you!” “Now now, sir. Let’s not be reduced to such childish antics.” |
04-23-2014, 11:48 AM | #33 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty: Royal Trinity, Part Two. White Cross saw it happen. She saw Black Cross’ ambush and Lt. Moses’ transformation into CrossTrinity. You couldn’t just pass on a magi heritage like that, could you? Guess I missed the part where Catherine was a royal all along; or she’s been lying to us... The Shapeshifter transformed its arms into huge spikes of black ichor and lunged at White Cross. She caught one under her arm and blocked the other with her opposite forearm. It swung it’s arm again, raining blows down upon her, trying to break her grip. She threw the ‘shifter into the path of a landslide advent from Green Cross. It lost it’s balance, caught it’s foot on a jagged outcrop of rock and crumpled to the floor. “Ken?” said Green Cross. “Let’s do it properly this time.” They concentrated and formed the image in their mind, just as Manuarii had taught them. Their weapons leaped to them in streaks of energy from across the scrubland. Blue Cross pointed his blaster at the mutant, and Green Cross hoisted the hammer over his head. “Riptide Blitz!” they roared. Trigger pulled and hammer swung, two of their fastest torrents of water slammed down on the shapeshifter and tore away chunks of the Black Water that made up it’s body. o0o CrossTrinity’s roulette dial clicked over to white, and her suit shifted away from black and blue to black and white. The air blade gauntlets formed out of the energy that was the fire staff. “Air versus air.” “Whatever you say.” Black Cross shrugged, and launched a gust of wind from his palm. It was no stronger than a half-hearted shove in the shoulder. CrossTrinity didn’t know what he was up to and frankly she didn’t care. “Hurricane blitz!” A slash of her blade ripped the air itself in two. It rushed back to fill the void with a thundering boom that disoriented Black Cross. With her hand outstretched, the whirling vortex of wind sped toward him. The vortex unwound itself at Black Cross’s command. “I control air, you control air…” As he spun his hand in the air, wind swirled around it. “How did you ever think this would work?“ “Funny thing that.” She snapped her still extended hand back, and a wall of air crashed into his back. She watched him writhe on the ground, but took no pleasure from it. He was still the man who’d trained her, given her all the chances at promotion she could have wished for, a fast track to success. “You’ve always been full of yourself General, but I’ve never had the courage to say it to your face. I could use any element I want against you and win, because you care more about yourself and your problems than you do about justice.” “Talk, talk, talk!” He leaped to his feet. Shadow shrouded him. He full body tackled her. The shadow energy sparked against her armour. “And your problem, Lieutenant? You only became a full magi minutes ago, I’ve been one since the very first day.” She struggled to her knees and mimed spitting at his feet. “Should that matter?” “Experience, kid. It’s all a matter of experience.” CrossTrinity scoffed. “I’ve experienced plenty. Just because these powers are new to me, doesn’t mean I’m weak.” She uncovered her wrist just as the roulette dial clicked over to red. She jumped up and grabbed him by the hand, where his morpher hid beneath his gloves, and squeezed as hard as she could. Flame licked around her hand and along his forearm. Black Cross flinched back. The heat bit into him, sparking up the magic in his armour, but CrossTrinity didn’t let up. With these powers she felt stronger than she ever had. He pulled against her. “What are you... doing?!” “When that great man over there died, he passed on more than the power of a magi. He passed on a legacy. I’m no longer just any magi warrior. I’m the empress.” Something shattered beneath his glove, but not just the bones in his hand. “It’s my great pleasure to remove from you your magic.” “You, you can’t do that. Can you?” His power guttered and his armour began to flicker in and out of existence. Each time it did, he saw the shattered, discoloured gem barely hanging onto his morpher. “I really didn’t want to do this… I wanted us to find a common ground. I wanted us to work together to defeat the Black Water but...” She let go of his hand and he dropped to his knees. His armour shattered out right, gone forever. “This is my real power, General.” “You have no right. You’ve doomed us all!” “No, sir, you have no right. You lost your right to command the moment you betrayed those under you. You sent us all away and kept a skeleton crew you knew wouldn’t turn on you… probably… but here’s the truth Bryant...” As she bent down to his level her armour also dissolved. “You’ve become a cancer killing our great nation from the inside out.” “I only wanted to strengthen our-” He cut himself off and swung a punch. Catherine caught it and pushed him away. “Go now, General. I’m not going to fight you like this. This is what mercy feels like.” She stood and walked way, back towards the Cross rangers, no her fellow rangers, and their battle against the Shapeshifter. Her armour reappeared in it’s base form. The enemy had reformed twelve metres away from whatever material it could find lying around. Without the Black Water the riptide blitz had taken from it, it resigned itself to using cacti and rock to complete itself. CrossTrinity spun the roulette dial, but didn’t wait for it’s decision. She threw a punch before it could fully recover. “Catherine!” Yellow Cross shouted. “Is it over? If Bryant done for?” The punch connected, staggering the shapeshifter. “I sure hope so,” she said. “I hope he can find a way to see what’s right.” It tried to swing its tail at her only to find Red Cross had hold of it. The red ranger hauled the creature around and covered his fist in flame. “This is for killing, Manu.” He hit it dead between the eyes. It’s face deformed from the blow. “And this is for everyone else you murdered on your way.” White Cross thrust her twin blades through it’s gut. It began to melt into it’s constituent parts. Red and White Cross stepped back. “We don’t want your kind here,” said CrossTrinity. “Trinity Advent!” The roulette dial spun faster. The tribal lines on her armour cycled through red to white to blue to red… like a tricolour rainbow. Her fist’s glittered with pure magi energy. She clapped her palms together once and a tricoloured wave of power burst around the Shapeshifter, blowing it apart. o0o Later, when they got back to the apartment, Catherine lay on the couch. She had visible bags under her eyes. “You don’t look so good,” said Maria. She smiled. “I’m fine. I guess I’m just not strong enough to pull off an advent like that.” Robert placed his hand on her shoulder. “Not strong enough yet.” Catherine chuckled. “Yeah, Rob. I’ll get the hang of it.” “Good.” Ken returned from the kitchen with a tray of drinks - a mixture of alcohol, tea and soft drink. “Because that attack was something else! Poor bugger didn’t stand a chance.” “Guys, listen,” she said, interrupting their celebration. “Bryant still has what’s left of the Agency behind him. He may not be Black Cross anymore, but he can still throw a spanner in the works. We'll have to go after him one way or another.” o0o General Bryant stumbled back into his office. A junior lieutenant stood in the doorway wondering whether or not he should offer to help. “What are you waiting for, boy?” the general roared. “I, I just -” “You just what?” The look he got from General Bryant could have damn near killed him, never mind sour milk. The lieutenant bowed, multiple times, and backed out of the office. “That’s better…” He slumped into his chair and tried to summon his morpher. Instead a jolt of pain struck through his temples. “Damn it!” Of all the people to finally do what they’d threatened, and it was Moses. Little, insignificant Moses. If anyone he would have expected Austin. Stupid, magi worshipping Austin. Always looking to do what’s right. He spat. “Pathetic!” From the shadows at the very back of his large office stepped a man. No, not a man, a monster, missing a leg, bandaged from head to toe, huge overgrown arm, with a black third-eye on his forehead. “I have the answers you seek,” the monster said. Bryant leaped to his feet, grabbing the pistol he kept taped to the underside of his desk. “Who are and what are you doing here?” “I am no-one.” The mutant stepped closer and offered the general a open hand. In it sat a wriggling glob of Black Water not unlike a large magic bean. “This is your answer. Take it and you’ll once more have power. This is my promise to you.” In a daze, the General took the lump of black water. As No-one lead him back into the shadows, the wriggling glob wormed its way beneath his skin. “I’m sorry for letting you think you were making your own decisions, but you’ve done well following my orders, General,” No-one said. “Now you must meet your destiny.” |
04-30-2014, 05:40 AM | #34 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty One: The Remnant The helicopter carrying all but one of the Cross Rangers thrummed its way towards the mountains south of Steele City, and the Agency HQ. “Thank you for doing this for us... again,” said Maria to the pilot, as she prepped her her equipment for the upcoming confrontation. “The pleasure is all mine,” the pilot replied. He’d been the one to fly them the last time they stormed the base, and hadn’t taken much coaxing to do it again. “My daughter was student at the school you saved from that Black Water bastard. If it weren’t for you she could…” Maria clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t thank me, okay? I was just doing my job… what should have been done from the start.” “You’re far too modest.” She chuckled. “Just get us to a hangar again and we’ll do the rest.” “Sure thing, hoss.” o0o A first lieutenant gathered the General’s Elite Guard in the hangar. They’d spotted the Cross Ranger’s helicopter in plenty of time, quite aware that Lt. Moses’ team must have used the same machine with the express purpose of alerting the Agency. “The General is gone. We are the last garrison, the remnant.” The lieutenant’s eye bulged with thick black veins. “They want our head quarters. They want us dead. Well I say no!” The Elite Guard roared with inhuman fervour. Some of them shed their armour and helmets and transformed into pitch black beasts. Other’s grew weapons from their own flesh and bone and bled black all over the battle-scarred hangar floor. “It ends tonight.” o0o As they swung around the mountain, they saw the hangar bay doors were already open. And yet they’d seen no aircraft leave during their approach. “I think they’ve taken the bait,” said Maria. “Now we just have to hope Catherine and her team can work their way in from the ground up.” “Come on then,” added Robert. “Time’s a wastin.” The pilot took a level swing close past the hangar doors and the rangers dove out. Allison called the winds to buoy them, and they arced down gracefully into the gaping maw of inevitability. o0o “Do you remember what I taught you about the Trinity clan?” said Brother Gray, sipping his coffee. The Order had booked out the entire cafe for an emergency meeting as soon as they heard of Manuarii’s passing. There was much to discuss, and not only Catherine Moses taking over as the magi empress. Brother Kline raised his hand. “It’s a power that comes from the very core of the Earth herself.” “Quite right. So what precisely is the problem we face?” One of the younger monks rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure I understand why you’re acting so… whats the word? Serious.” “Brother, please,” Kline hissed. “I’ll enlighten you all,” said Gray. “The infection is turning the Earth, poisoning her, and the one person who’s linked to the Earth in more ways than any of us is our new empress.” “But what can we do?” “See, that’s the million dollar question, ain’t it.” Brother Kline stood. “We’ll just have to destroy every single last molecule of Black Water before the taint becomes irreversible." “Or, far simpler," replied Brother Gray, placing his mug calmly back on the table in front of him, "We go after the source...” o0o Greeted by already transformed, mutated elite guard, the rangers slid into their fighting stance, ready for whatever might happen to happen. The Elite stood waiting as though giving them a little rope with which to hang themselves. “Well, lookie here,” said Robert. “They’ve learned a little manners.” Brad shook his head. "I hate stand-offs..." “Cross Form!” The five core rangers summoned their morphers and crossed their arms at their waists. The mixed clan gems shone brightly. They swung their arms around in opposing arcs describing a circle, and magi power overtook them. “Fire and Metal; Red Cross.” “Water and Lightning; Blue Cross.” “Air and Light; White Cross.” “Earth and Water; Green Cross.” “Sonic and Fire; Yellow Cross.” “Magi Tribe… Cross Ranger!” they finished in unison. The first to break the stand-off was an Elite Guard who now looked more like a giant beetle, complete with a carapace of black kevlar, topped with a tiny helmeted head. A true chimera. It clicked its oily black mouth parts, and let out a piercing shriek that sounded entirely too human, like the sound of being burnt alive. The Beetle Guard surged forward on its humungous veined wings, knocking the rangers over like bowling pins. By the time they recovered, the remaining guard were upon them. Red Cross clashed first against the most human of the infected soldiers. The guard swung a bone-like sword tipped and edged with solidified Black Water. The red ranger blocked with the shaft of his hastily summoned fire spear. “Last of you guys I fought had no head… let’s take a look shall we!” He ripped off the Elite’s full-visor helmet to reveal a face split straight down the centre, peeled back to show concentric circles of teeth. Tears of Black Water dripped from it’s eyes. Red Cross shuddered and handed back the bewildered guard’s helmet. “Here you go buddy. You just put that back on, ‘kay?” Blue Cross found himself hounded from the air by the Beetle Guard. He summoned his blaster and fired jets of magic-infused water every time the monster dipped close enough to get a good lock on it. After a few passes the blue ranger got two shots in that drenched the beetle’s wings, forcing it to make an emergency landing. It screeched and produced from it’s hands the muzzles of two semi-automatics. Thankfully, Blue Cross managed to leech kinetic energy from them with a shield of water, and deflect some of them with a few precision bolts of lightning, but it wasn’t quite enough. A round hit him in the chest and sparked against his armour. With a flourish of her arms White Cross soared into the air. A guard, with spikes of blackness all of his body, lunged ineffectually beneath her. “Get down here!” He roared. “Solar flare blitz.” Her hand momentarily shone brighter than the sun. A point of light burst mere inches from the guard’s face. He spun away, shielding himself with his arm, but the flare seemed to follow him around the room. Truly disoriented, he ran headlong into the wing of a jet and collapsed. Having dealt with her opponent, the white magi sunk to the ground and ran to join Yellow Cross. The guard that had chosen her, though once a man and a soldier, had transformed into rock beast with skin of purest obsidian. He slammed his fists together once then a second time against the ground, shaking the rangers off balance. They caught themselves in time to see the obsidian golem bare down upon them. White Cross summoned her dagger and slashed up a cyclone blitz, a whirling vortex of slicing wind. It wrapped around the beast like a cloak, trapping it in place and dulling its edges. “Sonic boom blitz,” said Yellow Cross, swinging her tonfas. Hundreds of pulses of sound pounded down against the cyclone blitz’s viel. The two attacks seemed to reinforce each other, shaking the guard apart from two fronts. Jagged cracks lanced their way across his chest. Meanwhile a serpentine guard member, the only elite soldier remaining, set her sights firmly on Green Cross. Rather than fight her head on, Green Cross ran. He slid passed a pile of crates and hard cases and under a jet’s wing to the side of the hangar. The serpent slithered over the engine, along the fuselage, dropped down in front the green ranger, coiling herself around him. “Why run? Are you a coward?” She squeezed tighter. “I’m not a coward!” “You ran.” Her tongue darted in and out of her mouth. The more he struggled the tighter she held on until he could barely breath, but with what air he could find Green Cross let out a battle cry. A ball of green light zipped in through the hangar door. It hovered momentarily over her head. As she looked up, eyes wide in disbelief, the light resolved into Green Cross’ hammer, and knocked her directly on the head. As she lost her grip on consciousness, the serpent released her grip and fell with a thud to the ground. Green Cross reached out to grab the hammer. “You followed.” On the other side of the hanger, the obsidian golem rolled free of it’s prison, trailing a landslide of rocks behind it. The beetle guard shook it’s wings dry and leaped back into the air. The Cross Rangers thought about pursuing their opponents, but at the behest of Red Cross regrouped to think through the best course of action. “How are we going do this?” said Red Cross. “We can hardly take on all three of them.” “Hang on, Rob...” White Cross pointed passed the guard. “Look!” The three remaining Elite spun to find someone behind their lines. Recognition passed across their faces. It had been a while since they seen Catherine Moses - a lot had happened in the mean time, like the general opening their eyes to truth - but they knew her now as their enemy, the one they had sworn to eliminate. Catherine, one arm to the ceiling and one to the ground, steeled her courage. Time to shine. “Clan form roulette!” She dropped her arms and struck the roulette dial. Her black and grey base form armour materialised in a familiar tricolour burst of energy. Finally the dial ticked slower and slower, the needle landing on the red segment. The power of the fire clan rushed through her, the grey shifted to red and the fire staff formed in her hand. “The ancestral head of the nine magi tribes. The magi empress… CrossTrinity!” The familiar clack of a gun being cocked sounded behind her. “You thought you could sneak past me, did you Moses?” The Lieutenant grinned maliciously. “Once you fall it's only a matter of time before I take out your traitorous followers. General Bryant is sure to promote me for this.” She cringed beneath her helmet. “Oh… hey, you...” In truth, she couldn’t recall the woman’s name, but had the vague sense that she used to tail the general like only the very best yes-man could. “I bet you think those suits of yours are something, huh?” She circled around the rangers to join her mutated comrades, all the while keeping the gun trained on CrossTrinity. “Last time I checked, spandex does shit against bullets.” “The General’s gone, lieutenant,” she said. “And believe me when I say this, he couldn’t give a crap about you.” “I see what you're up to! You want his praise all for yourself,” she sneered. “Far from it…” It was sad really, such a young officer twisted by that evil plague. “Bryant thinks only of himself. He’s not even on the base.” The lieutenant lowered her gun a fraction. “And I suppose you checked?” She nodded. “Funny you mention that.” “No!” She said with disbelief. “No, he wouldn’t leave us.” CrossTrinity walked toward her arms out stretched in surrender. It looked as though this upstart lieutenant had never fired a gun at someone in her life. With a bit of luck she never would. The magi empress got close enough to disarm her and whisper in her ear. “I defeated him myself.” She wailed and dropped to her knees. “You’re a monster!” The split-headed guard, the Kevlar beetle, and the obsidian golem knelt and raised their hands above their heads like the well trained soldiers they’d once been. They knew defeat when they saw it. “Y- ... a… a monster…” The lieutenant backed away convulsing. The elite guard shifted back into their human forms and dropped to the ground, dead. T he Black Water that once coursed through their veins poured from them and splashed across the lieutenant, lifting her into the air and out of the bay doors. “Is it me,” Catherine said, letting her armour dissolve, “or do they always leave just as the going gets tough?” The others followed suit. “It’s not just you,” said Ken. “In fact, the way things are going, we might see her and the general sooner than we think.” Allison shot him a look. “Seriously, Kenneth... You’re a massive jinx, you know that? Robert sighed. “I’m kind of disappointed. I was totally looking forward to a big fight...” |
05-08-2014, 06:51 AM | #35 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty Two: Homecoming “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Catherine hung up the phone and turned to everyone gathered in the Fort Lowsdale apartment. Her face was the picture of blankness, until a huge grin broke from ear to ear. Allison stepped over to the breakfast bar. “What’s the verdict?” “We got it,” she said. Maria sighed. “Awesome...” Robert snorted and shook his head. “I thought you were the one who couldn’t wait to get things all military again. Like that time you told me I’m too much of a civilian to lead the Cross Rangers.” “Cut me some slack, Red. The last couple times I was at HQ I fought my mentor, my idol. And he betrayed me. Understand?” “Bad things happened there, I get it.” “I’m not sure you do,” she said. “I helped destroy the organisation I was so excited about joining, back in the day.” Allison turned to look out the window above the kitchen sink. She stared out over the rooftops and across town. “We’ll make it some place good again, Maria. Don’t worry about it.” Catherine stood and straightened out her clothes. She stretched up tall and threw her shoulders back. “And to match my command of the old Agency HQ, you’re looking at the newest Captain of our nation’s army.” A chuckle sprang up from over the table. They turn to see Maria smiling. “Doesn’t this make you my CO?” “Yeah.” “And what does that make me? As a fellow captain... you understand?” Allison blinked as though she couldn’t believe the gall the woman had to ask such a question. Ken and Brad found it pretty damn hilarious. “Colonel’s given me two weeks to file my rosters, but I’d like it if you could fill in some role during the interim.” “Acting first officer?” “Alright,” said Catherine, leveling her finger at Maria across the work surface. “If you keep pushing it like that I could always just give it to Rob?” “Oh God, please no…” Maria burst out laughing. All but Robert joined in. He just frowned. “What have you got against me, exactly?” Her eyes were watering, and between sobbing laughter she said, “Oh come on, I’m just kidding. Anyway, you’ve never gone through training. You’re not a cadet, not even enlisted.” “So?” Allison sighed. “We’re just having a chuckle, Rob. Chill out.” “No. It’s a matter of dignity, you know?” He opened a cupboard to get mug, slammed it down on the side and slammed the cupboard closed… forgetting it was one of those fancy one’s that closed slowly. “I’m not something to be made fun of whenever things get a bit too serious for you.” Ken jabbed him in the side, and spoke with a lowered his voice. “We’re celebrating something here, dude.” “Sorry, but it’s getting to me!” To the surprise of everyone, Allison hugged him. “We don’t hate you or anything. You’re our friend, you’re my friend…” She reeled back and broke out in heaving laughter. “It’s just so damn funny!” Robert tried to look as indignant as possible, but soon grinned. “Fine, just… make sure you remember to appreciate me.” o0o In under a week, Captain Moses’ regime had near totally moved in to the base that had once played host to events they would all rather forget. Still working with a little more than skeleton crew, it had taken far longer than expected to refit the place. Catherine was beginning to wish they’d taken it easier on their surroundings when clearing out the Elite Guard remnant, but it would all be worth it in the end. This way she could order her people to get rid of as much of Bryant’s stuff as possible. Maria certainly wasn’t complaining on that front. She walked into the new war room, dodging one of the non-com engineers and took a moment to appreciate how far they’d come. From two kids brought in under a paranoid General’s orders and one for snooping around where he shouldn’t have, to a simple neighbour and a fellow officer joining them, to today. Bryant’s days were over and theirs were just beginning. Time to save the world “Can we get some light on in here?” “Sure thing ma’am.” Bar lightning flickered on across the ceiling. The computer consoles and central map faded to life. “Get the Cross Rangers in here.” One of the enlisted personnel sped off, more or less instantly, to find them. Catherine chuckled. That’ll really take some getting used to. Even with the control centre of her base finished, there was still plenty to do. Piles upon piles of paper work was waiting for her; reports for her to review, personnel files to sign off on, contractors to pay… Just as a tech booted up the new alarm system, klaxons rang throughout the base. It had been so long since she’d heard it that she took a while to figure out what was going on. Robert, Ken, Allison, Brad and Maria rushed in wearing their new uniforms; sharp black trousers, heavy boots, and a shiny black jacket with their colours in one long stripe down the arm. On the breast of the jacket were their individual mixed clan symbols. Cadet Ferris jumped to cancel the klaxon and check the report scrolling across the screen. She threw it across to the map with a gesture. “We’re getting a huge incursion signal downtown.” “Alright, this is it, guys,” said Catherine. “First mission. Check out the signal and neutralise if you have to.” “Right!” As she watched them go, she felt a pang of guilt. What she would give to be out there with them. But then she knew what she was signing up for. o0o The rangers arrived in down to Fort Lowsdale in one of the base’s helicopters. Maria stood in for the pilot considering no orders for one had yet been issued. Soldiers had evacuated a mile radius around the signal area in preparation for their arrival, so once they arrived no innocent civilian would get hurt. As they piled out the helicopter, No-one rose up from a puddle of Black Water frothing up out of an uncovered manhole. “Haven’t you heard?” Robert shouted and they ranked up before him. “This town is so last week.” “Wherever you happen to exist, I will still attack.” No-one lunged forward and swung his massively oversized arm. The rangers dove out of the way and summoned their morphers. Springing from the roll with their crossed arms at their waist, they yelled, “Cross form!” Magi energy overtook them, forming their armour. “Fire and Metal; Red Cross.” “Water and Lightning; Blue Cross.” “Air and Light; White Cross.” “Earth and Water; Green Cross.” “Sonic and Fire; Yellow Cross.” “Magi Tribe… Cross Ranger!” they finished in unison. “I’ve heard it all before,” growled No-one, swinging for them again. “Yeah well, indulge us on this one.” Yellow Cross ducked low inside his range and exploded a sonic boom against his stomach. The Black Water’s most infamous creation tumbled backwards into his own pillar of pitch black ichor. They called their weapons. “To be honest, I’d rather be doing paper work than messing around with you,” Yellow Cross added. “Do you ever have a good idea or do you pretty much get up in the morning and decide to go on a rampage?” She leaped toward the enemy with Red Cross. They slashed with their spear and tonfas, bathing No-one in blanket of flame. He struggled to his feet, skinning knitting back together imperfectly. “I am merely making sure you’ve not forgotten about me. Silence does not mean inaction.” He grinned. “I guess you’re not going to just tell us what you’ve been up to…” Red Cross shook his head. “If you paid attention you might be someone... but you’re no-one too...” he said. “Oh stop being cryptic.” Red Cross spun his spear over his head, flames licking along it’s length. “Flare Blitz!“ He hurled the spear but it struck manhole cover where No-one had once been. Streams of Black Water erupted in turn from storm drains up and down the street. The fountains of infectious blackness coated buildings, walkways, seeped in through still open windows and hardened to form a thick canopy. “Sooo…” Green Cross looked up into the dome. A black landscape. A dark world. “That’s new.” Blue Cross stretched his hand out and tried to use his magi powers as an extra sense. “It’s in the water course. I can’t feel any pure water anywhere!” o0o A doctor knocked at Capt. Moses’ office door, breaking her from wondering how the rangers were faring. “Doctor Zamora,” she greeted. “How are things going on your end?” “We’ve broken the deadlock on the community centre bunker. Ken Powell was right, Bryant’s men were keeping a secret project down there.” “Well? What is it?” “You’re not going to believe this, Captain, but…” He seemed to struggle to comprehend it himself, the ridges on his brow said it all. “It’s a giant humanoid robot. I knew he was going crazy but this is a whole new level of paranoid.” “I don’t know, Doctor.” She placed her signature of the form she was filling in and slid it to the side of her desk. “Some specialised heavy artillery might have been useful when we fought against the Howlerdillo.” “Granted,” he replied. “But honestly this wasn’t what I came here to talk to you about, well, it’s sort of related, but-” Evidently Zamora wasn’t a confident man, so she prompted him to continue with a smile. “I’d like to officially request permission to start a project of my own. New base, new administration, new progress and all that.” “Go on.” “I’ve been thinking about our options as a defense organisation, you see, and well, we’re rather limited to our troops and a five - or six - man band of superheroes… and none of us can be in two places at once.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of the clipboard folder he carried in perpetuity. It gave detail on exactly what he was requesting. “Given my work on the Cross Weaponry, I see no reason why I can’t replicate that in an entirely new combat system.” “You want to make new ranger powers?” There was no doubt about it, the sheet of paper was the blueprint for a single prototype ranger suit. “Precisely.” The science behind what he was proposing truly boggled her mind--teleportation of materials over long distance, the precise calibration… the power source?--so she push it to one side. The doctor was right, it would have been nice to have a little more help when it came to fighting evil. “How long will it take?” “I believe I can have the prototype up and active in a year excluding unforeseen circumstances. To outfit an entire team with suits like these would take considerably longer. This is about as experimental as the field gets, you understand.” She nodded. “Alright then, doctor, but you have complete control and responsibility for this. All I ask is that you file a weekly report with me so I know where the money’s going. No visible results and I’ll shut it down, okay?” Doctor Zamora grinned like a child on christmas day. “You won’t regret this.” “Oh and uh Zamora?” “Yes?” “Don’t forget to tell someone I want that robot ready for action as soon as possible.” He paused, wondering what threat on Earth would require a retaliation like that. “Are you sure?” “Positive.” Reluctant to agree, he nevertheless bowed his head and left. |
05-14-2014, 04:30 PM | #36 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty Three: Dome The Cross Rangers stood at the centre of a domed, pitch black landscape of No-one’s creation with no way of contacting the outside. “I’m sure the evac teams we had out there would have checked in with HQ by now,” said Yellow Cross. “Either they break us out or we find a weakness and do it ourselves. Yeah?” White Cross took a few tentative steps forward to examine the manhole No-one had disappeared down. “Whatever we do we need to find No-one.” “If he hasn’t escaped already,” added Blue Cross. “I think there’s something a little more important to address…” Green Cross tightened his grip on his freshly summon land hammer. “Why the hell did he trap us here?” “Why does he do anything?” said White Cross. “Let’s take a look around.” Down the main road, they passed the cafe and stopped at the intersection where it crossed Paradise Street. From the tiny park on the corner of the two streets, they could see all the way to the far boundaries of the Black Water bubble. At least the entire area was deserted. White Cross was glad she didn't have to worry about how many people could die from her missteps and hesitations. Still, she couldn't help but think back to the farce of the refugee camp. She had to trust Catherine’s people had done their job properly. She wouldn't have doubted a few mistakes during a regime change after all. Thankfully, as they probed further around the bubble’s interior, the area seemed devoid of people. Blue Cross hung back as they started a sweep of the dome wall itself. He stared up into the parabolic curve, up and up to it’s apex. Though it seemed smooth and unbreakable, he wondered something. “What if we just hit it with a Blitz? Brad and I have cleaned up Black Water that way before.” The green ranger hefted his hammer on to his shoulder in a ready position. “Worth a go... Earthquake Blitz!” He leaped forward with a baseball like swing and cracked the hammer against the bubble wall. Energy snaked and thundered away across the thick skin shaking walls and foundations… making not even a dent. “I was thinking something water clan,” Blue Cross chuckled. “Fine.” Green Cross pulled back and hauled the hammer back over his head. “Riptide Blitz!” they roared in unison. As Blue Cross pulled the blaster’s trigger, the green ranger swung his own weapon. Twin jets of fast moving water surged forward splashing against the wall. But rather than crack it began to ripple and seethe and roil. “That’s different...” “Did it... absorb the impact?” A mass accumulated at the very centre of the disturbance. At once, they figured out what was happening. “Nope... hit the deck!” shouted Red Cross. They hit the ground just as the mass roared through the air where they’d not long been standing. The mass grew and bubbled up into a familiar humanoid shape, but instead of resolving into No-one the mass formed wings, a snout, and dagger claws. The monster looked like a cross between a bulky human male, a humongous bat, a wolf and a feline. It’s howl chilled the rangers to the bone. Green Cross shuddered. “Do you think maybe that’s why No-one trapped us?” o0o “Captain Moses,” said Cadet Ferris, calling Catherine’s attention to the war room’s central map. She added a representation of the dome. “Reports are coming in of a large dome of hardened Black Water across the intersection of Main and Paradise. The rangers are trapped inside.” At that moment, Catherine decided to make a stand. “Cartwright. You’re in charge here until I get back.” Ferris piped up with a small voice. “Ma’am?” “You heard.” She could either give in to the paperwork or she could delegate and do what she was trained for. “I’m leading a team to the outer skin of the bubble, and we’re breaking in. No buts.” o0o The hybrid flapped it’s wings and leaped into the air. It swooped, talons bared, aiming for Red Cross’ head. He ducked and the monster lifted itself back into the air. “Oh come on now, not again...” Blue Cross lifted his blaster and took shots at it. A pulse of water splashed across its wing. For a moment it looked like everything was over, but the hybrid pulled up out of the spiral and hovered just out of reach. If ever a creature with the muzzle of a dog could smile, the beast did. It flapped its wings one and soared away over the rooftops on a well-placed warm updraft. “We’ll split up,” said Yellow Cross. The red ranger grabbed her arm and held her back. “That’s what it wants. It’ll pick us off one by one.” “You think you know everything, don’t you Red,” she said. “But who’s the captain here? Who’s the new first officer?” “That’s not what I meant...” “Of course not. You, some kid who managed to get in on a military operation without all the hard work and training, you’d never be wrong, would you?” White Cross stepped in between them and pushed them apart. “Now? You’re doing this now? Horrible timing! Get your heads in the game.” o0o Catherine and a specially selected team of demolition experts arrived at the outer perimeter of the bubble. Though it was smooth inside, a mess of looping strands of Black Water writhed and crawled and slithered across the outside. “The damn thing’s alive,” one of the team said without thinking. Captain Moses tilted her head. What if it was alive? The Black Water had proven it’s sentience in the past, even though it seemed about as inert as a virus otherwise. But was it truly sentient or did it only say and do what they expected of it? Absolute evil didn't exist. Nothing, not even the very worst of humanity, existed to rampage and destroy like No-one and his minions. She shook the thought away and slipped into her role as commander. “Right. Johnson, set the charges.” Johnson hauled a case from the APV they’d arrived in and set it down gently at the dome boundary. After a few minutes, and a couple of failed attempts when the dome had absorbed the explosive just as the two touched, he had ten charges of C4 rigged against the base. And if this doesn't work, she thought. I just have to try myself. They retreated a safe distance, and Johnson blew the explosives. For a moment it looked as though the bubble couldn’t take it. It absorbed the energy and spat out the used husks of the C4 along with the wire. “Okay then that’s enough.” Catherine patted him on the back and summoned her morpher. She shifted straight into her base form. “Trinity Advent!” A multicoloured light surged from her and splashed across the bubble. At first it continued to absorb, but as she pushed more and more of power into it the wall seemed to yield. The thick ropes of Black Water sunk back into the surface. She frowned and shut off the energy wave. The dome remained in it’s inert state. “Right, you lot stay here,” she said, tentatively putting one foot in front of the other. “Call for back up and surround this thing. I want it totally enclosed. Nothing in, nothing out.” Even more curious, the dome bowed away from her as she approached. It stretched further and further inward until it burst and reformed behind her. Johnson and the demo team looked at each other. How could they explain what had just happened? o0o Exactly as she’d expected the inside of the dome was black, and yet with each step the Black Water peeled back to reveal the natural road surface. What the hell is going on here? It’s like it recognises me as a threat or something… She took a deep breath and focused her power into one big burst. She held onto it as long as she could before releasing the final strand of magic. Like an elastic band it snapped away form her, desperate to return to the Earth. It spread in every direction searing away the black ichor, forming an island of normality. We can use this. If we find the source, they're finished! “Catherine! Hit the deck!” Military instinct kicked in and she dropped to the ground. A large pair of talons sailed passed her head. When she looked up the rangers had formed a protective circle around her. They faced outward with their eyes trained on the skies. “Long story short,” said Red Cross. “No-one trapped us here. Then let loose some kind of freaky wolf-man-bat... thing.” “Good to know.” She stood and joined the circle. The Black Water still peeled away from her, no doubt due to the residual charge. White Cross saw this but decided to keep comments to herself for now. She couldn't very well go disrupting the mission when she’d not long ago called Rob and Maria out on it. CrossTrinity spun the roulette dial. When it slowed, it landed on white and her armour’s tribal lines shifted accordingly. “Allison. How ‘bout we join our friend in the air, hmm?” The white ranger nodded. “That’ll even the score some.” The other rangers let them from the circle, and watched as they focused their power beneath their feet. Two powerful gusts of wind threw White Cross and CrossTrinity into the air and held them aloft. The hybrid swooped in around the corner of a building and made a dive straight for them. They split at the last second and rounded on the beast. “Tornado Advent,” they said in unison. A tearing wind ripped into the creatures wings and sent it tumbling to the ground not far from the rangers. It attempted to flap them, to get back in the air, but found it couldn’t. The two rangers regrouped with the others. “All-blitz?” Red Cross suggested. CrossTrinity gave him the thumbs up, and they each readied their weapons. White Cross slashed her swords, whipping up her trademark whirlwind. “Cyclone blitz.” “Flare blitz.” Red Cross spun his spear above his head, and when he hurled it, it burst into a ball of flame. “Sonic boom blitz.” With a swing of her tonfas, Yellow Cross loosed two loud blasts of sound. Blue Cross charged as much energy as he could into his blaster, and unleashed a torrential jet of water. “Riptide Blitz!” “Earthquake Blitz.” Green Cross slammed his hammer on the ground. The vibrations rumbled toward the hybrid, cracking the concrete as it went. As each attack slammed into the monster, CrossTrinity felt out into the infinite well and drew in power. The hybrid writhed on the floor under her teammate’s assault. For once, she wasn’t going to go easy. This time the bastards wouldn’t escape. “Tri... force... blitz!” She threw her hands forward. The volatile stream of triple-coloured energy seared the air itself as it pummeled into the monster. It exploded and all around them the Black Water retreated, or rather, dissolved under the force of her magic. The rangers looked at her aghast. “I didn’t know you could do that,” said Green Cross. “To be fair, I rarely know what I’m doing until it comes to me,” she admitted. They seemed taken aback that their commanding officer would say such a thing. “What? I’m not winging it. I’m not, I mean... the voices they…” She trailed off realising how stupid she sounded. The rangers began to laugh. “You know, Cat,” said Red Cross. “We know exactly what you mean.” Last edited by TheFightingSpirit; 05-14-2014 at 04:35 PM.. |
05-21-2014, 01:39 PM | #37 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty Four: Oblivion Thanks to the Trinity Clan powers, it didn’t take long to clear the Black Water away from the remains of the dome that had covered about a mile radius of downtown Fort Lowsdale, but no one could say exactly whether they’d got it all. Catherine sent a task force to work with the local authorities to scour the water course and the sewers for remnant infections. In trying to keep up with their lives in Fort Lowsdale, the rangers had come across a problem. They couldn’t be in residence at the base, and follow along with their jobs and lives. Brad had his apartment, his university courses. Ken may have enrolled to keep up appearances, but as far as the university was concerned he was a real student. As much as she enjoyed having support from Catherine’s agency - which the captain had since officially named Strategic Command, or StratCom for short - she couldn’t leave her friends at the camps in the lurch. Robert on the other hand had been more than overjoyed to forget about finding another job and move back to Steele city. Maria had not taken it well. She cornered him in the base’s freshly outfitted ready room. “I heard you quit your jobsearch.” “Yeah, but it was pretty pointless… and considering it takes a hour to get to FL…” He simply shrugged and went back to reading the random copy of national geographic he’d found on the chair. She lost it. “Are you for real, Red!?” “Come on Maria,” he said, slapping the magazine down. “I’m trying to focus on the job. Surely you understand that. Don’t see you with a day job.” “It was only ever a cover, doofus. You amateurs should never have gotten so attached to that life.” “We’ve been pussyfooting around this for weeks now,” He sighed. “The others look to me in the field for snap decisions, that’s what I’m good at, but if I’m being totally honest I don’t want to command. Not my thing.” Maria narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s what you’re good at? I would never have guessed you’d have skill in something you’ve never trained for.” “There is such thing as a natural leader, you know!” They fell silent. Both stared at the other, trying their best to intimidate, to get them to back down. Robert shook his head and looked away first. He could see Maria smirking out of the corner of his eye. “Maria, I couldn’t care less if you want to order me around, but in the field you need to give me space.” She set her jaw and looked down her nose at him. When she spoke it was through her teeth. “I’ll concede to you the field commander position… but I expect you, all of you in fact, to join me for a crash course in basic military training.” “I don’t want to sign up…” “I know, Red, I know. You’ll be a civilian with special training. Consultant, special… whatever, I know you understand me.” A smile spread across Robert’s face. “You’re not bad people, Austin. Not bad at all.” She frowned, then realised how he’d played her, but by that time he’d already scarpered. As she rushed to catch up, the bullhorn sounded the alarm. Cadet Ferris’ voice followed. <All rangers to the war room. I repeat, all rangers to the war room. This is not a drill.> No time to rest around here… she smirked, changing direction for the lifts down the hall. o0o Maria arrived in the war room just as the others did. They found Captain Moses talking to Cadet Ferris, the central map blinking an incursion signal. She turned to them. Her face was a picture of seriousness. “This is a big one, guys. It’s looking like No-one, but something’s different. We can’t pin-point exactly what. “Your priority mission is to deal with No-one, but if you can figure out why his signal is pinging weirdly the way its then…” She looked at Ferris and winked. “Then our Cadet here will love you forever.” Ferris blushed profusely, glad the rangers scrambled before anyone noticed her. o0o The signal pointed to a mile wide spread to the port side edge of Olympia park. When they arrived they found the lake filled to burst with Black Water. If No-one was indeed around here somewhere he was hiding pretty well. Robert shook his head. “He just doesn’t quit with the high level pollution stuff, does he.” “Yeah, but thank god that lake is man made and not river fed,” added Allison. “Speak of the devil…” said Ken. As though he’d heard them talking about him, No-one rose from the very centre of the black lake and walked across the water to greet them. “It is becoming very easy to get you to come running whenever I fancy.” Maria rolled her eyes. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t exactly be doing our jobs.” No-one stepped onto dry land. “There’s someone I want you five to meet.” The way he emphasised someone sent a chill up Robert’s spine, this coming from the guy who had a fetish for ‘nobody’ and ‘nothing’. A second figure rose from waters of the lake and had already made it to dry land before their features consolidated to any semblance of humanity. From a vaguely amorphous humanoid blob, the figure’s waist pinched in severely and it’s hips ballooned out. The woman, as was clear now, was wrapped in the same bandages at No-one. Her hair hung lank down her back merging into the remains of a black prom dress. In her slender, long nailed hands she clutched a pendent, no a military dog tag, and a gnarled branch turned staff or walking stick. “Is that...?” “The lieutenant who tried to pull a gun on Catherine? Yeah...” said Allison. Ken coughed loudly. “I think I remember saying something about this, like… oh I don’t know… seeing more of her again?” “Don’t gloat, Ken. You know I hate that.” No-one twitched and bellowed for silence. When he had their attention he continued, “This is my lovely bride. And unlike you, she is indeed someone. Say hello Oblivion.” The newest Black Water general, who had once been their opponent as a pure, if ill-informed and bigoted, human being, smiled. Robert hadn’t seen it through the layers of combat fatigues before, but she was beautiful, truly beautiful. It made it all the more painful to know that woman no longer existed. “But you insects can call me Lady Oblivion,” she said, casting the dog tags aside. Allison caught a glance at them, Lt. Celeste Hennings... “Oh sure, mustn’t be rude.” Robert raised his eyebrow and twirled a finger by his ear. “Shall I leave you to amuse yourself, dear?” No-one said to Lady Oblivion. She twirled her hair, and batted her eyelashes. “If you have somewhere to be...” “What ever do you mean? I have nowhere.” “Of course, of course.” Oblivion let out a sigh. She turned her back on him. “Go on then... I have just the thing to squash these pests, anyway.” “Have fun.” No-one dipped his head in a bow and dove backward into the lake. Robert rubbed his eyes and blinked. He looked over at his comrades. “That’s... pretty sickening…” “Oh?” said the ex-human. “I guess I can’t expect you to understand, can I.” She held out her hand and a small bean shaped blob of Black Water rose out of the skin of her palm. The blob wriggled once, then leaped over her shoulder and somersaulted in the water. Almost instantly, a huge bubble broke the surface with a loud pop. Another joined it, and soon the entire lake looked as though it were boiling. Lady Oblivion checked her work was done and melted away into the grass. It didn’t take a genius to realise what came next. Where pools of Black Water were concerned, especially the energetic kind, a monster wouldn’t be far behind. Sure enough a mass began to form in the centre of the lake. Though small and point like at first it continued to grow and grow straight passed Oblivion or even No-one in height. Brad looked from the mass to his teammates and back. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we...” It can’t possibly get any bigger… The mass continued to beyond all expectation until the totality of the lake had drained and it stood higher than the city’s tallest building. It shook it’s entire body to shed the shell of Black Water, revealing it’s true form; a mushroom covered, reptilian behemoth. “We’re in trouble,” confirmed Ken. Then a thought hit him, a distant memory of his life before becoming a cross ranger. He switched on the comms unit in his helmet. “Base, come in. This is Blue Cross.” <Ferris here, what’s your report?> “No-one brought a friend along, and long story short we’re up against something way too big to handle alone.” <Blue, this is Catherine. When you say big, how big do you mean?> “Big enough to use a certain piece of equipment… the one that used to be stored under the community centre?” <What are you talking about-> “Not the time to play dumb, uh, ma’am. Remember why the Agency originally capture me in the first place?” <How do you know about that?> “I’m smarter than I look.” There was silence for a moment, before the radio crackled to life again. <I need you all to morph. I can sync the instructions to your helmet displays.> “Roger.” Ken clipped the radio to his belt again. “Let’s do it.” “Cross Form!” they called in unison. Their morphers appeared on their wrists, and shone with magi energy. They swung their arms in opposing arcs and recrossed them over their chests. Once their helmets had formed over their heads, a stream of data ran across their visors detailing two top secret machines that would almost definitely level the playing field. As if on cue, the rumbling of engines grew to over power the city’s background noise. A substantial flying machine, like a bulky flying fortress roared into view from the deserts beyond Steele City. It was codenamed the Challenger. Red Cross, Blue Cross and White Cross followed the instructions they’d been sent and raised their hands as though reaching out to the Challenger. Three beams of light shot from them and connected with the machine. The energy streams lifted them off the ground and teleported them into a spacious cockpit, with space for two more besides the three of them. “What about us?” said Green Cross. From the direction of the community centre came the second machine, born through the air on powerful directional rockets. Unlike the Challenger, the Guardian was ground-based; a caterpillar tracked, tank-like vehicle with a pair of cannons along it’s back. Yellow Cross chuckled and patted him on the head. “That better?” They repeated the same gesture as their teammates and were transported into two cockpits. Green Cross took up position in the forward facing driving seat, while Yellow Cross found herself in the turret cockpit with the Guardian’s cannons on either side of her. Just then, the fungus lizard clocked them as it’s opponent and let out an almighty roar. |
05-29-2014, 04:49 PM | #38 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty Five: The Challenger and the Guardian Blue Cross whooped at his console in the cockpit of the giant Challenger. “I told them there was something fishy about that community centre. Did anybody listen? No. Does anybody ever listen? No. But I knew it!” “Alright Ken, okay, calm down,” said White Cross. “We’ve got a giant monster to exterminate.” “In Japan, they call them kaiju, you know,” said Red Cross, not missing a beat. The blue ranger patted his friend on the shoulder. “That’s interesting… completely beside the point but interesting.” Though the controls were pretty alien, a tutorial system highlighted the proper process with varying degrees of illumination. Once they got the hang of flying it, the autopilot switched itself off and the Challenger swooped toward the Black Water ‘kaiju’. “Dude, we've got lasers,” exclaimed Red Cross. He pressed the red trigger on his joystick and a volley of laser bolts flew from the forward turrets mounted on the Challenger’s underbelly. They hit the lizard in the chest, burning roughly circular patches in its layers of fungus armour. The monster didn't seem too perturbed by the attack. It stomped toward them across the park. Meanwhile, Yellow Cross had managed to get a target lock. She slammed her hand down on the launch button and the pair of homing missiles loaded into the cannon’s breach surged forward, arcing toward the monster as it chased down the Challenger. The missiles struck it in the back, tearing yet more fungus from it’s skin. It roared in pain and turned to see the Guardian, cannons smoking. Back inside Challenger, White Cross had discovered something interesting in the instructions scrolling across her visor. “It’s not just lasers, Rob. They can combine.” She yanked the monitor above her console around for the others to see. Red Cross grinned. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” The white ranger sent a copy of the instruction directly to Green Cross in the cockpit of the Guardian, then entered the transformation code into her console. The Cross Rangers followed her lead and did the same. The Guardian engaged a pair of heavy stabilizers. It’s caterpillar tracks locked, and the entire back of machine rose up, pivoting on joints just behind the cockpit. As it split down the middle, two booms with docking mechanisms at one end swiveled up from the back, turning the machine into a pair of legs. The Challenger fired one last shot at the kaiju and swooped down to dock vertically with the Guardian. Once in place, two shoulder joints extended from the main body. The robot bent at the waist and inserted first one, then the other into sockets on the two cannons. As it rose up one last time the front cockpit of the Challenger flipped down, becoming a chest piece, and revealed the robot’s head; a sleek thing with single silver fin. “CrossRobo online,” said Red Cross, confirming everything was in working order. Yellow Cross and Green Cross joined the others in the Challenger’s cockpit and took the positions at the two remaining consoles. CrossRobo strode confidently toward the giant monster and grappled with it in an attempt to get it off the streets and back into Olympia park. As the mecha wrestled it’s opponent to the ground, the lizard’s thick, muscular tail slammed into the side of a skyscraper, smashing windows and buckling steel. Tons of office equipment slid from the building to the street below. The mech leaped to it’s feet and levelled it’s arm cannons at the still smouldering, fungus-armoured lizard. “End of the road, kaiju,” said Red Cross, engaging CrossRobo’s finisher move. Energy from the Challenger’s power cells was redirected into the cannons. Just as the monster struggled to it’s feet two balls of crackling overloaded laser energy loosed from CrossRobo, incinerating the beast on the spot. o0o In a cavernous subterranean sewage chamber beneath the city, Lady Oblivion and No-one reformed from their hidden reservoir of Black Water. He bowed to her. “How did it go?” She curtseyed in return. “Your friends the Cross Rangers have more firepower than you initially suggested.” “What?” “Did you not know they had giant mechanical man to combat my monsters?” “A giant me-” No-one growled and stepped back into the water. “This complicates matters...” “Ah, but does it, darling?” she said, stepping into the pool with him. “They can field all the... the mechanical nonsense they want against us, but they won’t ever stop the infection. Will they.” No-one turned to her as though looking right into her mind. “No… no, they won’t.” o0o The rangers filled Catherine in on what had happened. Suffice to say everyone present, including Cadet Ferris and the enlisted personne,l bustling about trying to look like they weren’t listening in, were worried. StratCom already had the destruction of a privately-owned office building to deal with, and very little legal precedence to fall back on. How often did giant monsters and massive humanoid robots duke it out in Steele City… Or anywhere? Maria shook her head. “I never thought I’d be thanking Bryant’s regime for anything, but-” “To be fair,” interrupted Ferris. “The Challenger and Guardian projects were the brainchild of the old R&D department, the General only okay'd their construction.” All eyes focused on her. “What? I may be new but I like to keep informed…” “Still,” said Maria. “Without them, the city could well have been destroyed today.” She paused, falling into deep consideration for a moment, before turning to Catherine. “Captain, permission to offer a suggestion?” “We’re all friends here, Maria.” Catherine chuckled. “Let’s not be so formal.” “Understood.” She cleared her throat. Robert noticed she still stood at ease in front of her new commanding officer despite having known Catherine since she was the rank below. “I’d like to suggest we form an dedicated engineering detail and attach them permanently to the Cross Machines.” “Great idea,” she replied. “Can I count on you to liaise with Doctor Zamora on this?” “Yes, ma’am- I mean… Catherine. I’ll get on it right away, if you don’t mind of course?” “Go on then, the sooner the better I suppose.” Maria saluted - old habits died hard - and left double quick. Perhaps she wanted to ensure the Machines would always be ready to launch- just in case - or maybe she wanted to get it sorted quickly and get some down time. Allison frowned. “I don’t mean to be a buzzkill but... just because we’ve got an increased arsenal… doesn't make the matter any less serious.” Catherine nodded. “No, you’re right. If creating threats like Lady Oblivion is as easy as kidnapping someone and infecting them, then we might be in big trouble.” “But wouldn't No-one have created more of these generals, by now,” said Brad. “If it was simple, that is.” “There’s something we’re missing, that’s for certain,” Catherine agreed. “A secret process or ritual Black Water has observe… but nevertheless we’re more than prepared now.” Robert wasn’t so sure. It seemed that every time they got an advantage, Black Water leveled the playing field; a stalemate if ever he saw one. He wondered whether it would be enough to stay on the defensive. Could the six of them, with their giant robot ally and StratCom soldiers in reserve, do enough to protect the people? He was beginning to realise they needed to do something drastic, or else the world may never get shot of the Black Water plague. o0o Maria met Sergeant Cartwright a few metres from Doctor Zamora’s lab. The Operations NCO seemed to stand her ground, like a stoic sentinel barring the captain from entry. “I’m in a rush, Cartwright.” “How does it feel to be second in command, Austin. I’m just wondering.” Maria sighed. “I have bigger things to deal with than your misplaced irritation. I’m the officer here.” Almost as soon as she’d said it, regret bubbled up within her psyche. “This isn't about being an officer or not, but as far as we care the only reason you got XO is by being buddy buddy with Moses.” She stepped even closer to Maria, well within her personal space. “And let’s be honest, how the hell did she get her job instead of you? You must be pretty pissed at getting passed over in favour of a lieutenant.” “Put it this way Cartwright. I pull double duty. The platoons on base report to me, and I have to deal with all their shit. On top of that, I’m a ranger. Fighting evil day in day out.” “Oh big woop.” Cartwright rolled her eyes. “I’ve read the reports on magi. The only reason you are where you are today is 1) by accident of birth and 2) because of the power vacuum left by Bryant, filled by your rangers.” “Those seem like damn good reasons to me.” Maria sidestepped the sergeant and strode to the laboratory door. “Would you like to take my position? The fact is Black Water would chew you up in seconds, and without powers like mine you’d be infected. Just like that. Nothing you could do would stop it.” “All I ask for is recognition. People like me are the backbone of the military.” She turned back before entry to face Cartwright. “Deal with your lot, sergeant, because I’m still the ranking officer here. Or would you actually like to face a disciplinary committee?” In all honesty, Maria hated pulling rank on non-commissioned officers and enlisted. You did not piss off your NCO support staff, not least administration and operations staff like Cartwright. After all, they dealt with your paperwork. A pissed off NCO could easily misplace your sick note or put your name on a random training list ‘by accident’. Maria didn’t begrudge Cartwright for her opinions, or in fact for speaking out and using the chain of command. Maybe she could chalk it up to the tiredness of trying to get it through Robert’s thick skull that she had experience he could use. She didn’t want to be ‘that guy’, but he needed to learn to listen to the specialists. It was then that she realised her situation with Robert was no different from her vs Cartwright. God, I need a lie down... |
06-04-2014, 05:08 PM | #39 |
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Posts: 327
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Incursion Twenty Six: A Rallying Cry In the ready room, Ken and Brad sat reading their course textbooks. Despite needing to be on hand at HQ nearly twenty four hours a day, they’d figured out a way to keep up with their university in Fort Lowsdale. When it turned out to be impractical to commute after all, Catherine had pulled a few strings for them here and there. Twice a week essential, hard copy work would be mailed to them, and in return they would telecommute for the non-optional lectures. Naturally, that meant a lot of hard work on their part, but it was surely worth it. Maria peeked in from the corridor and spotted the two of them. She walked over. “You two hiding out on your own again?” “We have school stuff,” said Ken. “Oh, sure.” She sat down with them at the table and eyed the bullhorn of the, so far quiet, alarm system. “But wouldn’t you like to get out and do something else?” Brad narrow his eyes. It sounded suspiciously like Maria was fishing for a very specific answer. When neither of them made an attempt to reply, she continued. “I mean, I get that university is important for you guys, but, and don’t think I’m being forceful about this, it’s pretty boring running Robert through drills on his own.” Surprisingly Ken laughed. “How’s Rob doing exactly?” “Taking to it well, all things considered.” “All things considered…” He shook his head and smiled. “The dude has been friends with my sister for years now, he hates authority just about as much as she does.” “Well, I didn’t say it was easy,” Maria said with a shrug. “Infact, I’m pleading with you. Join us, I’ve got Catherine coming down and Allison said she’d pop in when she gets back from the camps. We need the practice.” Brad closed his textbook. “You mean, we need practice.” “For prosperity then? The ranks are ... talking, and it’s not great.” “Let them talk,” said Ken. He folded his arms and leaned back on the chair’s hind legs. “Why would that bother me?” Maria’s face fell, and Brad knew the joking was over. “Like it or not, Ken, you four are now part of a military organisation.” She stood. “Yes, the army works with civilians, but you can’t slide by anymore without following a little protocol. I’ve spoken to couple NCOs who are questioning how sensible putting amateurs in charge of national safety is.” “You heard me, Maria. Why should we care?” Brad shrunk into his chair. A lot of the time he felt like a minnow in a storm, like the only one who wasn’t angry at everyone, and the only one who didn’t jostle for pole position. Brad didn’t want any of that. “Do you want to know what happens when your support system stops believing you?” she said. “It can get ugly. If all you have to do is half an hour to an hour of training a day to keep them off your back, then I’d do it if I were you.” The alarm sounded. Brad calmly slid his books into his bag and stored it in his locker. Here we go again. o0o The rangers arrived morphed at the scene of the incursion signal; a small abandoned warehouse in the city’s soon to be redeveloped, and aptly named, ‘rust belt’. Inside a woman was waiting for them. She wore a long winter coat and a wide brimmed hat pulled low. Red Cross played it safe and launched into a well practice schpeel. “I’m sorry miss, but it’s not safe here. Run to the main road. Our people will meet you there.” The woman started laughing, a pleasant laugh at first, building to a great shrieking cackle. She threw the hat and it soared over their heads like a UFO. “Oblivion…” White Cross muttered. “Lady Oblivion,” The Black Water general insisted. Red Cross found himself snapping. From training to this… he’d certainly sleep soundly tonight. “Whatever. What do you want?” A subtle click sounded off to the right. Rather worryingly it reminded Yellow Cross of a grenade’s hammer being released. Instinct kicked in and she dove out of the way. Before she could warn the others, the grenade exploded releasing a noxious cloud of gas. She rolled backwards further to avoid breathing it in as it spread. Shrouded within the obscuring gas, she heard their spluttering coughs and feared the worst. Lady Oblivion smirked. “Ha, that was easier than I thought.” She didn’t see me make the dive! Indeed the infected ex-human melted back into her component black sludge and escaped through a drain set in the floor behind her. When the gas cleared, Yellow Cross rushed to her teammate’s aid only to find them unmorphed and sleeping soundly. “At least you’re all breathing.” She let her armour shimmer away and unclipped the radio from her belt. o0o Her day didn’t get any easier from then on. Just as soon as they’d lifted the unconscious rangers into four beds in the sick bay, the alarm sounded. Knowing the situation, Cadet Ferris contacted Maria and Catherine directly. <I’ve picked up another incursion signal.> “Report.” <Well ma’am, it’s looking a lot like Oblivion and a small-fry mutant, only their leaving a whole mess of Black Water in their wake...> Maria glanced at her comrades, out for the count. Great time to take a nap guys… but don’t worry, I’ve got this. She turned to Catherine. The Captain merely nodded deferring entirely to her second in command. “I’m taking my old squad out, Catherine. Want to join us?” “I’ve got plenty of work to do here but …” She shrugged it off. “You know what? I think I will.” o0o Minutes later the two captains stood in front of a fully suited up squad of eight veteran soldiers. Under General Bryant’s regime Maria had been kept out in the field as commander during the almost daily incursions. These eight men and women were 'her boys'. She wasted no time in briefing them. That way none of them had the chance to question her. “I’m sure many of you chat with Staff Sergeant Cartwright, but here’s the deal. Captain Moses and I are still military, through and through. And as your commanding officers, we need something from you. “Earlier today the Cross Rangers were hit with a powerful sleeping gas. As we speak the enemy is marauding around the city, spreading the infection. If you’re not going to do it for the rangers, you’re damn well going to do it for the civs. And that’s an order.” Catherine raised an eyebrow momentarily, but quickly squashed any emotion to the back of her mind. She’d never seen Maria get so heated in front of the troops. The captain had always lead by example, as a loyal friend and fellow squadie. “Sir, yes, sir!” The squad roared. Perhaps they hadn’t needed coaxing, but Catherine knew Maria; she had to let off steam somehow. Indeed it looked as though the troops agreed with her... in their own way. This was a job and a duty, not for themselves, or their feelings, or their emotions and irritations, but for the people who counted on them to save the day. o0o Lady Oblivion and her pet monster - an emaciated skeleton of a beast with three heads - laughed as the humans scattered in every direction imaginable. They’d already torn through three blocks of the city, seeding their infection as they went, and were about to push into a forth. Up ahead was the national train station; the perfect way, Oblivion thought, to disrupt lives. She smiled. “Go my pet. Spread the disease!” The creature leaped forward on all fours. It grabbed up people who couldn’t run fast enough with it’s wide, gaping jaws, bit into them once and threw them away. The puncture wounds bled black. Seeing it’s enjoyment, Lady Oblivion moved on toward her goal. She swung her staff at anyone who refused to move quick enough for her liking, great bursts of dark power exploding all around her. She got all the way to the main entrance of station with very little resistance until two women stood in her way. They both wore the one uniform that angered her more than anything in the world. “You will get out of my way,” she sneered. “I don’t think so,” said the smaller of the two. “I don’t get out much anymore, so… put it this way, I’m going to have fun stopping you.” The woman shook out her wrist, revealing a compact, box-like object with a circular dial on top. The second woman showed little emotion. She pushed up her sleeves, revealing the full extent of the back of her hand wherein glittered a tell tale circular clan symbol. Lady Oblivion hissed. “Magi!” “And you’ve met me before,” added the magi with the glowing hand. o0o Maria crossed her arms at her waist and summoned her morpher. “Cross form!” “Clan form roulette!” Hearing such calls the three-headed beast wheeled around without command and bore down upon them. Maria swung her arms in wide arcs and recrossed them over her chest. Energy, both red and yellow, surged from the gem set into her morpher and condensed into her half yellow, half orange armour. Catherine struck the roulette dial against her palm. Her body was covered in CrossTrinity’s base form armour. The wheel lost momentum and clicked to a stop on the red section and the tribal lines on her suit shifted to match. The fire staff appeared in her hands in a burst of flame. The two rangers dove out of the way of the monster. Yellow Cross threw a sonic boom its way before it could regain its bearings. Meanwhile, CrossTrinity focused her attention on Lady Oblivion. “Honestly? I thought No-one was annoying enough, but you just had to crawl of the woodwork and complicate matters, didn’t you?” The two opponents circled each other, both looking for an opening the other refused to give. “Lieutenant Hennings… Celeste. If you’re in there please listen to me. You’re hurting people. Stop this.” Lady Oblivion quirked an eyebrow. “Seriously? I’m no more and no less than Oblivion. Call me what you like, but the infection cannot be stopped.” CrossTrinity sighed. “I was hoping you’d stand down, but, if you are that far gone, then…” She jumped into the air, bringing her staff down on Oblivion in a flaming hammer blow that knocked her flat. Closer to the station building, Yellow Cross grappled with the monster, trying her best to keep its three snapping heads at arms distance. Wherever she caught flesh, she popped a small concussive blast of sound between it and her palms. Eventually, she managed to knock it away a metre or two. “Resonance advent!” The low thrum of her attack washed over the monster pinning it in place with layer upon layer of acoustic destruction. She raised a hand. Her squad leaped from the shadows and trained their guns on it. She gave the order: “Shoot to kill.” Where the bullets of semi-automatics lanced through it the resonance field became a jagged, inward pressing, omni-directional wave that shredded the beast outright. With one opponent down, the soldiers spun to Lady Oblivion and CrossTrinity. “Hold until you have a clear shot.” Seeing her pet’s destruction, Lady Oblivion melted into her liquid state. As far as she cared, it didn’t matter whether she stayed or not. No-one would certainly be overjoyed to hear the four block hold they now had on the city. Before she slid away back into the sewers her voice taunted the rangers. “Do your worst, magi. You’re already too late.” o0o It may have taken well into the night for the sleeping drug to pass out of their system, but the four rangers woke, refreshed and confused, to find Maria and Catherine by their sides. “What happened...?” said Ken. “What happened?” Maria smirked. “The way I see it an operative was in the field without the proper training needed to recognise the signs of an incoming grenade.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “I should have known you’d work in your drills somehow… alright, we’ll join you, right Brad? … Brad?” The green cross ranger had fallen asleep once more. This time from exhaustion. |
06-18-2014, 05:47 AM | #40 |
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Posts: 327
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Magi Tribe Cross Ranger: the Movie “From Across the Ages” Robert sat up in his bunk and dismissed the alarm on his phone. He flopped back down and groaned, hoping, as many do, for just five more minutes. A knock on the door told him that wasn’t going to happen, not today. He threw on some trousers and shuffled to open the door. There stood Allison wearing her borrowed gym clothes; lycra shorts and a white tank top with the new StratCom logo on the chest. “I thought you’d be late, so I came to get you.” “Oh, cheers, how kind of you...” he muttered. At his request, she went back out into the corridor and closed the door, but continued to talked to him through the wood. “Maria’s gonna have you running laps.” “Anyone would think she’s the red ranger here,” he called back. “She’s the captain.” He joined her in the hallway dressed in his sweats. “She’s a captain.” “But Catherine doesn’t exactly have time to run training, does she.” “You’re stating the obvious today.” A chuckle slipped from him. “Yeah, well… That’s the kind of mood time in.” Though they didn’t speak after that, grins stuck to their faces with some permanence. Captain Austin had cleared out an unused storage room to repurpose as a training room, with an obstacle course off to one side and an open space for sprints and so on. Maria, Ken and Brad were already waiting for them inside. “Here’s a question:” Robert said to Maria. “The military doesn’t do really physical training inside… so why do we?” She winked. “You’re always telling me how you aren’t military.” Robert shrugged. It did make sense to have all rangers on base when anything could and often did happen. Certainly saved time in calling everyone to action. “So come on then,” said Robert. “What are we doing this morning?” “Strength and cardio.” The four of them let out a collective groan. Brad hung his shoulders. “Aww, not strength and cardio…” Those three words meant only one thing. A round of push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, lunges, followed by about thirty minutes of running. Seperately? Doable. Together? Hell. And then they had to repeat it. Multiple times. Ken threw his arm around Brad. “Put it this way, mate. The more we do this, the easier it’ll get.” “I’d really rather it be easy now.” “Alright,” Maria interrupted. “Warm up time.” o0o Two hours later, Robert, Ken, Allison and Brad collapsed into chairs in the ready room, their bodies on fire. Maria, who often trained alongside them instead of just calling the shots, had already showered, dressed in her uniform and moved on to her other duties. “Honestly, I don’t know how she does it,” said Brad, massaging his aching calves. “Energiser bunny or what.” “She’s a... bunny?” Ken jabbed him in the side with his elbow. “You sure that’s what you meant?” “You know exactly what I - Okay I’m way too tired to do this right now.” He slumped back, his head thudding heavily against the drywall. He jumped forward, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realised he hadn’t dented the plasterboard. Allison sighed. If this was what soldiers went through to serve their country, then she had a new found respect for them. She’d always questioned how clever it was to put yourself at risk for causes that your own government may well have been lying through their teeth about. Maria had really stepped it up this morning though. Was training more important than strategy? Well that was million dollar question but the way Allison’s entire being was burning suggested a certain Captain Austin had made the decision for them. After a while Allison remembered what she been excited about before training had side tracked her. “We’ve got leave today, guys!” “Well, the rest of you might,” Ken’s face fell. “but me and Brad have to use it to show up for an exam in good old FL.” He hesitated, took a deep breath and continued. “You still think of going home?” “Yeah...” Home meant only one thing: their uncle, their legal guardian, who had effectively disowned them. They’d told him they were going to be gone for a while for a ‘training retreat’ with a view to joining the Agency. As expected, he flipped and said he never wanted to see them again. Back then it had been a lie, a cover to allow them to pursue their duty as cross rangers. What about now? Now they were more a part of the military than they ever were. The lie had come true in every way but the rank and the title. Nevertheless, Allison couldn’t stand to think of her uncle sitting alone in his chair, watching reruns and wondering what went wrong, feeling like he’d disappointed his late sister (their mother) or dirtied her memory. No matter what happened, no matter what she had to do to prove herself, she promised herself they’d reconcile. Robert, bless him, spoke up. “Well, I’m thinking of seeing my folks too.” He knew all about the Powel’s problems with their uncle, but must have wanted to lift the mood some how. Weirdly? It kind of worked. o0o Allison’s uncle’s house was in a neighbourhood called Castle Dale - consisting of part semi-detached three bedroom houses and part-council owned properties. Robert’s parents lived a few roads down. They’d hitched a lift in one of the old, black Agency cars together but Allison had quickly taken her leave. She was beginning to feel more and more apprehensive of what was about to happen, and didn’t particularly fancy showing weakness in front of Robert. He complained, he worried, but at her insistence he let it be and head off in the direction of his childhood home. She found herself stood at the mouth of the cul-de-sac, her uncle’s house staring her down from the far end, unable to make her feet move. What would he say? Moreover, what would he do? He wasn’t a violent man and he’d never raised a hand to them. Stern yes, but more from the perspective of a worried guardian trying to live up to his own high standards. He’d never married, and never had children of his own. So when his sister and brother-in-law met their end during the devastating initial attacks by the Black Water, lumping him with their kids… Allison felt for him. She could sympathise with how tough it must have been suddenly having to figure out how to look after someone other than yourself. Allison snapped out of her reverie when a car shot past forcing her on to the pavement. It sailed onto the house’s drive, the handbrake ratcheting on in a hurry. A woman and two young, blonde children, a boy and a girl, jumped out and went up to her uncle’s door. He welcomed them with open arms, picking the kids up in turn and spinning them around. Allison’s mouth fell open. Suddenly she felt exceedingly angry. That slimy, little sod! How dare he kick us out? How dare he replace his own damn family with younger, cuter models? With that same head of steam, she charged up to the bottom of the drive. The mystery family had gone inside by this point. She could see them through the window, laughing and playing like a real family. First, jealously smothered her anger, then embarrassment crept in at the sides. She took a good long look at herself and realised what she was doing. Creeping around an estate peeping through a window at a happy family, wishing she had one herself. But when did this happened? How had he found the time between reruns? A new emotion barged the others out of her brain. Paranoia. What if he’d waiting for the tiniest chance to kick them out so his bit on the side could move in? Are we that embarrassing? Without realising, her uncle had come to the door. He stared out at her, arms crossed and eyebrows knitted in anger. “What are you doing here, Allison?” Her own anger muscled its way back to the forefront. “What do you mean ‘what am I doing here?’ What are you doing in there with those, those strangers?” “Contrary to popular belief, I have a life outside looking after you and your brother,” he replied curtly, adding, “I notice he didn’t have the balls to show up, by the way.” Well, if that wasn’t just the final straw. “He’s sitting an exam, you arse. At university. Remember when you said he’d never make anything of himself, that he’d buy himself a shed some day and hold weekly conspiracy meetings?” The mother of the blonde children, blonde herself of course, appeared behind him. “What’s with the shouting, babe? Who is this?” Allison couldn’t help herself. She knew she should have kept calm. She knew she should think about what she was going to say, but she couldn’t. “I’m the niece he’s obviously never told you about.” Her uncle stepped the side, flattening himself against the rank of shoes lining the wall, so his new love could pass. She glided down the drive and came to a stop with her hands on her hips. “Allison. Tom has told me all about Ken and yourself. So, I’m sorry to disappoint and pull that rug out from under you, my dear, but he actually speaks very highly of the two you.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “I’d ask you to come in, but frankly I don’t think you deserve it the way you’re running on.” No one had spoken to her like that in a long time. Not since… She hung her head and toed the ground, and for a moment believed that she’d been the one in the wrong. “Hang on, just let me say something. I think it’s pretty awful what Uncle Tom is doing to us. I don’t want to feel like a failed experiment, or prelude to his life with you and your children.” The woman nodded even though she didn’t reply, perhaps feigning solidarity with her man for appearances sake. She held out her hand and pulled Allison in for a hug. “My name is Johanna, and I need you to know that you are not a prelude. Okay?” A great shattering of glass came from the house, and the girls turned to see an empty door and a smashed front window. They dashed inside to find the place completely vacant. “Uncle... Tom?” Johanna stepped into the lounge for a moment. When she returned her face was wan and blanched. “My children are… they’re not…” Their faces must have matched, because Allison had a horrible feeling she knew what had happened, and an even worse feeling that she’d brought it on them herself. “I’m sorry, but… there’s something I have to do. I’ll be right back.” “What?” She frowned. “Wait, where are you going?” Allison bit her lip and ran. o0o Robert had called ahead. So, naturally, when he arrived at the house he found the entire extended Lam family assembled in the back yard. At times like these he wished he had a less overbearing family. “Hey!” roared his father, as booming and effervescent as always. “There’s our hero!” Robert cringed. What followed was every relative you could possibly imagine, no matter how distant, wishing him well, telling him how proud they were of him doing something about the incursions and saying how terrible it is and how John next door lost his entire family to some ungodly hell beast and.. And the whole time Robert felt like a liar. A hero? He wasn’t a hero. A hero wouldn’t lie to his family. He wouldn’t cheat his way through life. He wouldn’t shy away from recognition. Sure, he wouldn’t seek the attention but he’d be man enough to do what had to be done... Nevertheless, he wondered why he hadn’t done this sooner. He’d spent so much time flying under the radar, working in some stupid restaurant and putting up with the bureaucracy and despotism of General Bryant, that even if his family thought he was one of the poor sods on the front line, with only a semi-automatic and no chance at a future the moment the Black Water rolled over them, instead of the Red Cross Ranger… well that was just fine. It felt good. After a while he found himself lulled into a false sense of security, as though the past several months hadn’t happened and this was just any old get together. So when Allison bombed into the yard from the side gate wearing an expression he come to know all too well, it took him a moment to grasp the situation. “Rob,” she panted. “I think… I think Black Water kidnapped my Uncle and his girlfriend’s kids.” “I didn’t know he had a girlfriend…” “Robert!” she screamed, practically on the verge of crying. “Alright, alright, the kidnapping, sheesh.” He turned to look at his family, trying to figure out what he’d say and whether ‘military emergency’ was a decent enough explanation. It was just then that he saw a shadow clad being disappear into the deep shadows behind the hundred year old oak tree at the very back of the garden. “What the h-” Robert turned to Allison realising his mother and father were missing. “I’ll bet you actual money that’s what happened to your uncle.” o0o Back at HQ they explained the situation to Catherine and Maria. The order went out to recall Ken and Brad from Fort Lowsdale. By a stroke of luck of luck they’d just finished their exams and, as a ‘sitrep’ stated not minutes later, were in a helicopter on route. “Well? Did you see his face?” Allison shook her head. “I never saw the actual event, I was … indisposed... I guess.” They turned to Robert somehow expecting better from him. “Sorry, all I got was a human shaped shadow disappearing into, well... the shadows.” “Like a ninja?” said Cadet Ferris from her console at the incursion signal system. Robert replied regardless of the looks of derision she gained from the others. “No... Honestly, it was like the guy actually became darkness.” “It could be Oblivion,” suggested Allison. “How much do we actually know about her?” For a while he’d thought the same, but it didn’t quite add up. “When have Black Water ever attacked us so personally though? “Their MO is more about spreading their infection, yes, but they’ve pulled the wool over our eyes before,” said Maria. Cadet Ferris raised her hand in politeness, and drew their attention with a small cough. “What time did you say the kidnappings took place exactly?” “No more than forty-five minutes to an hour ago, why?” “Well... only I’ve been here since alpha shift started at 8am, and there’s not been a single incursion signal.” If there wasn’t a signal then that meant only one thing. The situation carried no meta-level threat, and by law that meant, as a purely human incident, this wasn’t a case StratCom could legally take. Catherine covered her eyes with her hand. “If we can’t prove this is something more supernatural than some nut job nabbing people at random, I can’t allocate any resources to this.” Robert reeled back. “Are you shitting me?! Our family’s are missing and you choose now to follow the rules.” “Red, the SCPD can handle this as well if not better than us,” said Maria, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s their job.” He shrugged her off. Allison jumped to her longest friend’s defence before he could land himself in any trouble. “That’s not good enough. I believe Robert when he says this can’t be a normal kidnapping. At the very least, you should let us gather some more evidence!” Around the war room, staff stood aghast at the sight of someone calling out their commanding officer and seemingly getting away with it. Then again, Catherine wasn’t exactly your ordinary commanding officer. “Okay then,” she said curtly. “I’m sure the boys will want to join you when they get here.” With that, she excused herself and disappeared into her own adjacent ready-room-come-duty office. o0o Once reunited with her brother, Allison voted they begin their search before the trail went cold. “How do we know there’ll even be a trail?” said Brad, pulling on his StratCom uniform jacket. “Sorry to state the obvious there…” When all three of his teammates shot him a look that said ‘suggest that again and we’ll break your legs’, he backed off and mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key. He couldn’t resist one last comment however. “What are we going to do?” Ken sighed. “Probably best to revisit the scene of the crime.” Could his day get any rougher? From cardio, to finals, to yet more family tragedy in the space of one long morning. Robert grabbed his radio to tell Catherine the plan, if she’d listen. Perhaps it had been a little over the top to question her in front of her subordinates. <Understood> she replied. <Good luck, rangers. Call if you need me.> o0o They started at Uncle Tom’s house. Johanna answered the door almost as soon as Ken’s fist wrapped upon it. When her eyes fell on Allison, the rage visibly built up in her, painting her face red from bottom to top at the gall of her returning after the runner she’d pulled earlier. Johanna had to double take when she saw the uniforms, and the boys accompanying her. One she knew as Ken, the others she wasn’t sure about. “I’ll have to make this short. There’s not much time,” said Allison, nearly barging in through the door. “I don’t know if Uncle Tom said what I do, but my teammates and I need to look around the house.” Their uncle’s girlfriend stepped aside, more out of shock than acceptance of what was happening. Predictably the only signs of a struggle were the broken window, snapped coffee table and toppled bookcase; not a supernatural clue in sight. Robert and Brad ducked outside to check the front yard, saying something about the sun and angles. Ken and Allison stayed behind with Johanna. No one spoke for a good few seconds until the frustration built in Allison to the point of rupture. “It doesn’t even matter what you think of me, or us, we’ll bring them all back, alright?” The woman opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it at the last second. After breathing a sigh of recognition, she spoke. “I believe you.” o0o Their next stop was the Lam’s place. It took a good few minutes to introduce everyone considering the entire family was still there, all of them crammed into the tiny front living room. Thankfully they managed to impress the urgency of the situation before anyone started enquiring about ranks and Robert had to lie again. Nanny Lam followed the rangers into the back garden, along with Robert’s uncles and cousins and pointed to a spot next to the half decimated buffet table. “I was only standing there, you see. One minute my darling boy was here, and the next … poof! Into thin air.” Her word came out with heaving sobs, until eventually she broke down and someone had to take her back inside. An uncle accompanied the rangers to the oak tree further down the garden. He seemed to wrestle with a thought for a few seconds, his brow furrowed in concentration trying to find the right wording, before he finally spat it out. “So, why is the military involved in this? I thought this StratCom thing was meant to be for monsters and stuff only. You don’t think-” Brad stepped forward to field the answer. “Sir, allow me.” The others had been through too much to deal with such questions. “Our commander is doing us a favour letting us investigate. While it’s probably nothing, you can’t be too careful these days, can you?” “Hmmm,” he said with a fairly aggressive nod. “I see your point.” Returning from his circuit of the tree, Robert turned his attention to his uncle. “Hey, John, do you think you guys could go back inside for a bit? This is kind of official business an’ all.” “Oh, uh, yeah. I suppose so…” Uncle John looked pretty dejected, but seemed to agree. “Don’t hesitate to yell if you need any help.” With everyone gone - though still peering out of the windows trying to sneak looks at Robert their grandson, nephew, and cousin - the rangers could talk frankly. “I don’t even know what we’re looking for.” Robert threw his arms in the air in frustration. “There’s not a speck of Black Water anywhere.” “Looks like Ferris was on to something...” said Allison. Robert circled around to the back of the oak once again, looking first to the back fence and then at the tree’s roots. Who else could it have been if not Black Water? So far only they and the Order had exhibited the power of teleportation. And then there were the shadows, which he now realised were rather unnatural for the time of day. What am I missing here? Before he could do anything else, something tackled him from the direction of the oak tree. The shadow-clad figure tucked and rolled, then sprung into a sprint for the house. Out in the open and in full sunlight there was certainly no mistaking it. A ranger. For a moment they thought Bryant had regaining his magi powers. Quickly saw that, while the ranger’s armour was indeed black, it was nearly seamless with no additional colours or highlights. His belt was but a sash of black cloth. Equally black leather pads sat upon his shoulders and the visor of his helmet was thin and tinted red. And sure enough upon his forehead was the darkness clan symbol. With a split second of concentration, Robert summoned his spear. After everything that had happened so far, he didn’t care if his family saw. He threw it, catching the shadow magi longways in the back of the knees. The ranger crumpled to the ground, finding the four on top of him before he had the chance to stand. “Who are you, and what have you done with our relatives?” Robert roared, mere inches from the magi’s helmet. “I had hoped to finish the job, before moving on.” The rangers voice was deep and as rough as gravel. “Get off me and I shall tell you my business here.” “Why should I?!” Flecks of spittle flew from Robert’s mouth as he shouted. “Because my issue is not with a fellow magi, but the organisation that seeks to use you.” A sudden rush of strength filled Cross Shadow. He threw Robert clean off him, knocking Ken and Allison over in the process. The ranger jumped to his feet and began to weave shadows around himself. “All will be explained in time, but for now tread carefully. Your family will be with you again in no time.” He made a swift arcane gesture and slid into the pool of shadows. “What just happened?” ask Brad. “I thought the Order couldn’t find any more rangers?” Robert had no answers. For a few seconds he even slipped into a shock-induced trance, but when he came to he said, “Bryant’s darkness powers must have jumped to the next ancestor in line.” “But how did he get so good in such a short time?” Ken had a point. “No rookie magi could have come up with that shadow jumping stuff,” said Allison. “The general certainly never did.” It was that moment that Robert’s aunt and uncle chose to come looking for an explanation. They stood on the threshold of the house part way between angered, amazed and awestruck. Robert stared right at them back. For the moment, he felt like being defiant. What was the point of keeping a secret identity when it got in the way of beating the bad guys? On the other hand, what was to stop Black Water, or any other group for that matter, coming after their family every other week if the public knew he was the Red Cross Ranger. He shifted the spear back his back and sent it back to base. “Robert?” His aunt sidled up to him, wringing her hands. “What just happened? Who… what exactly do you do for the military?” He realised through it all that she wasn’t just scared, but terrified. How could he come out and say it when her knowing could bring more pain upon the family than it already had? Instead, he reached out and hugged her. “I can’t tell you. If you knew -” Uncle John interrupted and finished the sentence for him. “If we knew bad things could happen that are out of your control.” The glint of pride in the man’s eyes told Robert all he needed to know. His uncle continued: “What ever this is, Rob, you catch the guy and you bring Alan and Lucille back to us. You don’t have to say anything besides, and we won’t say a damn thing.” Robert shook his hand and waved goodbye to the remainder of his family. Damn right, he would find them. Damn right, he would bring Cross Shadow in for what he’d done. o0o The rangers got back into the black car and the driver assigned to them set off for HQ. “What are we going to do now?” said Brad. “We need some help on this one,” Allison replied after a while. o0o Catherine slid the documents she had finished signing back into their respective project folders. She’d discovered a perfectly proportional relationship in her workload; the more the Black Water spread, the more paperwork seemed to land on her desk. No one said it would be easy. Every so often one of the lower ranks would file some documents for her to looked over and put her final signature on. Forget the infection, she wondered whether this was how General Bryant lost it. A black gloved arm seized her around the throat and dragged her out of her chair. By the time she managed called out for help, not a second later, the scene had already changed. The wood in her desk and shelves appeared to shift seamlessly into the bark of a densely packed forest. The veil of shadows receded. She’d hardly noticed them set in. Five other people, civilians no less, were tied to trees nearby; two men, a woman, and two young children. All were unconscious apart from the little blonde girl. A amorphous mass of living shadow tied Catherine to her own tree before dissipating. She couldn’t see their captor anywhere, but kept her voice low all the same. She hissed to get the girl’s attention. “Hey. Yeah, you.” The child, who couldn’t have been more than five years old, raised her head and looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “Who are you?” “Hi there. My name’s Catherine.” She tested the restraints. It felt like rope, but held much stronger and tighter. “What your’s?” “Lilly…” She sniffed. “Where’s my mommy? Why’s everyone sleepy?” Well how could anyone answer that? “Don’t worry Lilly. I’ll get us out of her.” She attempted to summon her morpher, but found her connection to the power simply didn’t exist. That can’t be right. She frowned and tried again to much the same effect. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” said a deep gravelly voice from behind her tree. “But you will find that quite impossible. I’ve use my magic to seal your powers.” “Come out where I can see you!” The kidnapper compiled, all too easily perhaps. Catherine’s eye spasmed when the all-black ranger moved into her line of sight. She heard him sigh audibly through his helmet. “I was saddened to learn that a magi sat at the head of the beast, subjugating her own kind, forcing them to certain doom.” He stepped closer, until his thin, dark red visor fell inches from her face. “How do you live with yourself?” “What are you talking about? I do what I do to save the world.” Given the abilities he’s demonstrated so far, this ranger must have pledged allegiance to the darkness clan. “Who could fight the Black Water if not magi warriors?” He didn’t see fit to answer her directly, instead he dodged the question entirely. “Do you recognise these people, subjugator? Usurper? They are here to prove a point, albeit a crude one I’ll admit. They are because of your actions alone.” Catherine growled in frustration and pulled against her bonds. “You’re delusional.” “Am I? If you say so…” The noise of their conversation had woken the other captives, the young boy started but one look from one of the men seemed to calm him some, especially when he saw his sister, the blonde girl. The dark magi turned to them. They seemed to recognise him, yet through fear rather than anything else. “This is the deal. If you stand down, let the magi govern themselves, I will release these hostages.” “And what if I don’t?” He summoned a jagged-edged axe and hefted it above one of the men’s heads. “You must know how this works.” He let the weapon fall back onto his shoulder. “I’ve been watching those you call rangers. Yes they fight the evil plaguing your time, but at what cost? The blue and green rangers take time from their education to serve this cause. “The Red and the White magi are perhaps the most tormented by the life your army forced them into. They lie to their parents and, dare I say it, to themselves. Is that not proof enough?” He gestured to her fellow prisoners. She realised who they were then; Robert’s parents, Alan and Lucille, and the Powel sibling’s Uncle Tom. About the children on the other hand, she had no idea. “Free the magi from their slavery and I shall free these four,” he said. A plan flashed through Catherine’s mind. It would have to do. “Look, whoever you are. What ever do you think gives you the right to make demands of me? Don’t you recognise me?” “If this is intimidation, I’m not impressed. The magi of this era are quite pitiful. We used to be akin to gods!” “Release me and say that!” Their captor chuckled. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She spat at his feet. If he lost his cool, she hoped he might slip up and make a fatal mistake. “At least we have more honour these days.” “Honour? The emperor used to speak of honour...” He drew himself up to his full height and popped the bones in his neck. “My tribe didn’t agree. What use are the abilities bestowed upon us if we limit ourselves to some pointless code of conduct? Does the tiger cut off it’s own claws?” “I think you’re scared of what’ll happen when your seal brakes.” “Scared?! I’m a Shadow Warrior.” “Then prove your might!” For a second he seemed to consider taking her up on the offer. He paced back a metre and folded his arms. In that moment, Catherine felt an invisible force crack her bonds. The shadow ranger noticed immediately. The rope made of his own shadow energy had been snapped by a force outside his control. Her link to the power snapped back in place like a television turned off standby. She flexed her magic by summoning her morpher. The rogue magi dropped to his knees. “You’re the...” “Lady of the Trinity? Or perhaps you’d prefer to call me your majesty?” “Empress!” He bowed, jamming his helmet into the leaves and mud at her feet. “I hate pulling this card on people,” said Catherine. She made her morpher disappear. “Let these people go. They’ve done nothing to deserve this punishment.” He complied, and without a twitch of muscle on his behalf, their ropes slackened. Monks of the Order slid from the shadows and took the prisoners to safety. They disappeared back through their glimmering portals of light. Four of the Cross Rangers - Maria, Robert, Brad and Ken - replaced them, striding from the very same portals before they slammed shut. The fifth, Allison, marched from behind the tree, a ripping wind circling her fists. Catherine hopped down from the raised platform created by the tree’s extensive root system. “Your goal is just, sure, but you’re going about it all wrong.” She crouched down by the prostrate magi, and lifted his head from the mud. “I don’t subjugate these five. Regardless of the past, as far as I care we’re all equals when it comes to beating evil back where it came from.” Suddenly Cross Shadow lunged forward, driving his shoulder into her stomach. He sprung to his feet from the resulting roll and picked up his axe in one smooth motion. Allison helped Catherine to her feet. “Let’s be honest with ourselves,” the shadow magi said. “All these rules and regulations... how are you supposed to do your job when you can’t even sanction a son searching for his missing parents?” Robert faltered. The rogue magi’s words had struck a nerve. “It’s not someone else’s problem. It’s everyone’s. The more you hold them back the more they’ll want to break free of you.” Catherine too felt his words ring true. Just look what happened with Bryant when he held us back? “I want you to tell me one thing however,” Cross Shadow said, holding up a small, carved tesserae-like object. Carved on it’s surface was the unmistakable form of the darkness clan symbol. “How is it you’re even able to command your armour without your clan ru-?” Before Cross Shadow could finish his sentence, a lance of solid black ichor pierced his heart and he crumpled to the dirt. He clutched at the wound, gasping for oxygen. The clan rune almost tumbled from his hands, but the magi clamped down on it, protecting it with the remainder of his life as he'd vowed to do. They spun to see a quill-backed Black Water monster lower it’s tail, a pleased grin plastered across it’s twisted face. “He talk too much.” “He was just getting useful!” Allison roared. All the emotions built to a fever pitch with in her. Right then she made a vow to herself. No more would she leave things to the mercy of the laws of chaos and entropy. No more would she exist within a whirlwind of bad upon worse. It was time to take control. Without even summoning her morpher, her magi power burst outward and shifted her into the trademark white-and-gold armour. A jet of wind lifted her from the floor and flung her toward the monster. Distracted by its own ego, the quilled beast took her to the stomach in a full body tackle. Her fists rained down upon it. Blow after blow after blow after… Joined by the others, Ken rushed forward to pull his sister away from monster before she did any lasting damage to herself. “Allison! Revenge isn’t the answer.” “It’s a monster, just morph and help me.” Robert shrugged. “She’s got you there.” The four remaining core ranger morphed into their armour with a resounding call of “Cross Form!” Catherine looked down at the dying shadow ranger and hesitated. Brother Edwards, a monk of the Order, appeared beside her. “Don’t worry, we’ll deal with him. You help the rangers defeat the monster.” She nodded and, without a second thought, raised one arm to the sky and thrust the other to the dirt. He morpher shimmered onto the skyward wrist. “Clan form roulette!” Catherine brought her arms together, striking the morpher’s circular dial along her forearm. As it spun her body shimmered and turned into her gray lined base form. Not waiting for the dial to decide, she ranked up with the rangers. “Fire and Metal; Red Cross.” “Water and Lightning; Blue Cross.” “Air and Light; White Cross.” “Earth and Water; Green Cross.” “Sonic and Fire; Yellow Cross.” “Head of the nine magi tribes. The magi empress… CrossTrinity.” “Magi Tribe… Cross Ranger!” they finished in unison. The dial on CrossTrinity’s morpher clicked over to red and her armour shifted accordingly. She glanced at Red Cross and Yellow Cross and nodded. The three rangers took a single step forward out of the line up and blasted the quilled monster with a triple flame advent. It burst from the fire wall, spines burning from the attack, and dove straight in among them. As she rolled out of the way CrossTrinity spun the dial a second time. She ducked beneath the monster’s fist once, then twice. The dial spun slower and slower. She shoulder barged the beast to put some distance between them. Just then the dial clicked over to white. The shifting of CrossTrinity’s armour called White Cross to her side. The two stretched out their arms, palms facing forward. “Tornado Advent.” Twin whirlwinds surged from their hands and blew the quilled monster off it’s feet. The ranger’s regrouped. “Want to do the honours, Catherine?” said Red Cross. CrossTrinity shrugged. “Sure.” A swirling of rainbow energy surrounded her fists. She swept her hands through the air and pulled more power from her link to the Earth. “Trinity Advent.” She clapped her glowing palms together and a wave of tricoloured energy collapsed in around the monster. The energy burned, it singed away at it’s Black Water flesh until the corpses of a man and a long-tailed porcupine fell to the ground. o0o Once the rangers had defeated the monster, the Order had reappeared to take them back home. As soon as they had stepped from the portals, Cadet Ferris’ voice came over their radios as though she’d been trying to contact them for quite some time. Maria quickly explained what had happened. The large group decided to split up at this point. Catherine and Maria, along with Brother Gray, would travel back to StratCom HQ with CrossShadow to get him the medical attention he needed. That left Robert, his parents, the three Powels and the children to return home. Brother Edward agreed to do this alone and drop them off one group at a time. Robert was thankful the Order had pulled the hostages out before he’d morphed. He could barely figure out how to explain his seemingly magical weaponry to his uncles, aunts, cousins, and other extend family. This is going to be interesting. o0o Even though he refused to remove his armour, StratCom medics managed to slow CrossShadow’s bleeding as well as remove the majority of the quill. Nevertheless, the damage was far too extensive to totally stabilize him without better access to his body. He further surprised everyone by refusing treatment, so they moved to a secure cell. Catherine was first into the room once the doctors agreed he was fit to be seen. He greeted her with a bow. “Empress.” “I’ll make it quick.” She had many questions for him and, she suspected, little time to do so. “What did you mean when mentioned clan runes? You never finished your sentence.” His voice came out ragged. “Every clan has its own rune.” He opened his hand to reveal the darkness rune he hadn’t yet let go of. “From this we warriors draw out power. Where… are your runes?” “We don’t have any.” She then remember the glowing symbols that appeared on the rangers hands every time they morphed. Although… “Anyway, what I want to know more is where the hell you came from? The Order has never once come across you during their search” “Ah.” He took a laboured breath. Even though they hadn’t been talking for long, he’d definitely deteriorated. “Now that is… more difficult to answer.” “I-” She wanted to say ‘I have all day’, but all things considered. “Just try.” “I am not of this time, but I suggest that goes without saying.” He coughed, and grabbed his chest in pain. “An entity came to me and told me of an injustice. I never saw it’s face. It spoke to me as a voice in my mind.” “And it told you to come to our time and kidnap our families?” “I didn’t take the mission of my own free will. That Temporal Vortex threw me here without waiting for my reply.” “Let’s just circle back to the real issue there.” Catherine asked him to move his legs, and sat down next to him on the bed. “Why did you kidnap those people?” “I was told to use my intuition… That I would find magi under oppression, and must do all I could to stop it… something about changing the future…” He attempted to sit up, and pain lanced through him. Though she couldn’t see his face due to his helmet, she knew he was twisted up in pain. “I’m sorry for getting the wrong idea about you.” “No, don’t,” she said. “Your heart was in the right place. In fact, you may have done more for us in a roundabout way than you think.” Cross Shadow, if he’d accomplished anything, had gotten them thinking about the nature of their war against the Black Water, in fact, the nature of war itself. To save lives you had to compromise, and you couldn’t save everyone, even if you tried. “Then you won’t let anyone hold you back from doing what is necessary?” he said. “Of course not.” “And… and promise me you won’t order your subjects t-to ignore what matters most to them. Without heart, magi warriors are little more than killing machines.” He paused to take another ragged and stressed breath. “You must not become that which you vowed to destroy.” “You have my word.” Catherine touched him on the shoulder. “One last thing. Who are you, beneath that helmet?” He opened his palm flat, the rune sat symbol up. It began to glow. “It is the least I can do after what I’ve put you all through.” A black energy surrounded him and yet, it seemed weak, faltering, slow. In an instant the light turned a brilliant glittering white, swirling around them like a whirlpool. Just as his armour was about to dematerialise, he fell into the blinding vortex. It snapped shut behind him. “Damn it!” Catherine beat her hands against the mattress. A young officer poked her head around the door. “Are you alright?” she said, Then saw Cross Shadow was missing. “Oh...” “Yeah.” o0o In the northern wildernesses of the country, in amongst the mountains and earthworks and forested expanses, an archeological team had set up camp. Although taken root might have been a better word, for they had been on site for months now with no signs of slowing down. For a long time there had been rumours of interesting archeology in the north, rumours of an ancient civilisation. The first mention of anything strange had come when a prospector, panning for gold in the mountain streams, turned up innumerable amounts of pottery. Pushing further into the mountains toward the source of the river, he came upon a cave. His writing had gotten vague, hazy and prone to hyperbole at this point, so no one could be totally sure what he found in those caves. Whatever it was, a lost civilisation or just a huge seam of gold, the prospector returned a changed and considerably wealthier man. At first the archeologists came for the possibility of uncovering hitherto unknown settlement and vital clues as to the daily lives of bronze age man. Then, they realised, they had a rescue operation their hands. Locals had been coming to this spot, Prospector’s Cave, for centuries. It seemed anything of interest had been robbed out long ago. And then they hit something unexpected. Bodies. Burials mostly. In amongst those multiple hundreds of skeletons and cremations, men, women and children, they found a warrior of indecipherable age. Clutched tightly in his fingers was a small, unassuming tessera. A fragment of pre-roman mosaic? Quick on the heels of the tessera-holding warrior were carvings and, identical to both, a single common symbol of a waning moon in a circle. A unknown religious cult perhaps? Whatever they’d stumbled upon, they had enough material, enough questions to answer to keep them in business for many decades to come. But one night, during the second full month of the dig, someone broke into the incident room. They took very little, nothing in fact apart from the unknown warrior’s moon-symboled rune/tile, before vanishing like they never existed in the first place. The thief was never caught and the importance of the rune was made just that little more obscure. |
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