Unsolicited (Part 3)
Posted on Fri Mar 10th, 2023 @ 5:19am by Kyarah Moreau & Markus
994 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
The Invasion
Location: The Bento Box Restaurant: Angel Grove, CA
Timeline: November 14, 2050 @ ~1820 hrs
"The crystal morphed you," Sako said after a quiet, pensive moment.
The female ranger bobbed her head in the affirmative.
"Could you. . .step aside now?" she then uttered, reinforcing her request with minute gesticulation despite Sako having turned his focus back to the raid leader.
"If there was an aside to step to," he answered. "I know you'll move, but I'm not sure how our guest feels. Especially in light of you dashing in with something he really wants."
"Hand it over." The ranger in red spoke, holding out his sword. "Do it now, peacefully, and I shall spare you and everyone here. Challenge me and I will be forced to kill everyone here. I implore you not to make me do that."
Among the civilians, Mister Haru muttered, "Ima," just before releasing his hold of Elyssa, whose deft brandishing of a retractable katana nigh decapitated the nearest drone. His extinguishing the interior lights via a preset on his wristop was almost as sudden, mercifully obscuring the graphic, fatal consequences as well as her nimble determination to deal similar fates to all intruders within her reach.
"Everyone out now!" her crouched elder bellowed over the sword's whistle, the various startled utterances of their patrons, and the faint hum of an energy field. The breach of the restaurant's glass front, the outside ambient light, and what he figured to be confusion among the semi-dependent drones created as much of an escape opportunity as one could hope for. Despite the high likelihood of collateral, the former GPF scientist had determined that compliance had run its course in keeping the civilians safe. Even if the raid leader kept his word, surrendering the crystal would diminish the Alliance's strategic parity with the Imperium, rendering it susceptible to future conquest. It was a bad idea he'd do everything in his power to stop regardless of the leadership's complaisant attitude.
Speaking of the Alliance, GPF patrol cruisers sped into fringing the store front shortly after his instruction, strobe lights sporadically countering the receding illumination of the twilight sky. Armed and armored officers purposefully disembarked from the vehicles and advanced toward them, weapons at the ready.
However, Mister Haru's attention was on helping his niece disrupt the drones, who'd regained sufficient wherewithal to harry fleeing patrons. Like her, an ocular implant with infrared capability allowed him to impose his will despite the darkness. At least one drone learned that his meekness to their leader was something of a ruse; the older man skillfully trapped a punch it'd thrown at a preoccupied Elyssia and sent it crashing to the floor on its back with a rapid, precise, and progressively destructive series of strikes to its leading knee, back, head, and chest. A stomping kick to the solar plexus served as the neutralizing coup-de-grace.
In the corridor, Sako answered the sudden snap of darkness by firing overloaded shots at the raid leader as he backpedalled for the safety of the kitchen, one of several junctions now impeded by forcefield. Despite a heyday as a primary weapon of the SPD Power Rangers, he expected that his D-Shot's evolution trailed that of his adversary's armor. Yet he only needed to distract him into yielding a fractional head start; his father's activation of the Bento Box's siege program had automatically populated the bypass command on his wristation, though its blinking was outshone by his weapon's blasts.
Meanwhile, the Silver Ranger charged at the fray, aware of what had transpired down to details that would've required conversations she was quite certain she hadn't partaken in. Her visor went infrared a blink before Sako opened fire, and while she could abide the defiance he signalled on her behalf, his subsequent vulnerability was a development she couldn't. And somehow, irrespective of the novelty of the power that had bonded with her mere minutes ago, she felt capable of doing something about it.
"You're trying my patience..." The Red Ranger spoke, flipping the shield he carried up and pointing the blaster barrel at Sako as he pointed his sword as the Silver Ranger. "Hand over the crystal or he dies. Then, you do. Slowly."
"Pass," quipped Sako, having gotten parallel to his exit. He promptly darted in.
"Time to leave," asserted the Silver Ranger, slowing in part because she felt what she subconsciously knew to be a blaster materialize in her left hand. Similar whispering intuition cued her realization that the bulky device on her right arm had similar functionality, so she pointed both at her foe. "Now." She pulled both triggers repeatedly, sending orbs of energy ripping intently toward the raider.
The Red Ranger brought his shield up just in time to protect himself from the blast, being pushed back by the force of it. As it stopped, he flipped the shield up, revealing his blaster barrel, pulling the trigger and firing his own red beam at his opponent.
She hadn't been a ranger for long, but combat wasn't exactly new territory for Kyarah. She'd anticipated the cannon and consequently lateralled to avoid its beam, her movement unwittingly aided by its concussive force. Even so, she was able to re-aim her Solar Blaster to fire a pair of low shots intended to try and capitalize on the operating mechanics of her opponent's weapon.
The Red Ranger staggered back from the attack, his eyeline not leaving his opponent. As he straightened back up, he looked to where the civilians were stood. He paused for a moment before looking to Kyarah, sheathing his sword as he did.
"I'll be back for that crystal," he said, before calling "Drones! We're leaving."
A Drone ran up to him, seemingly voicing its objections to his order. Without hesitation, he withdrew his sword once more, running the Drone through. He looked around.
"Anyone else want to argue?!" he yelled, before disappearing in a flash of red and purple lightning.
Kyarah slowly advanced, her helmet's optics confirming that the raid leader was no longer there. . .
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