Cloak and Dagger

Posted on Thu Dec 7th, 2023 @ 5:19pm by Kilena Keithron & Valdana 'Dan' Raadax & Damien McGinnis & Spencer Gustaffson & Ellie Evans

1,820 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Secret of Corvus
Location: Archaeology Camp Site, Corvus

Damien led the team through the rocky environment of the dig site. It looked like a black, rocky city, with the ruins of old buildings present. On his HUD, it showed the level of atmospheric particulates; he was no scientist but he didn't like the look of it.

He stepped over a rock, being careful not to catch the hem of his cloak on the rocks below him. He held up a hand before quickly dropping to a crouch.

"Look down there." He said, pointing to the bottom of the dig site.

There were several cloaked figures and a number of drones digging in the ground. On the backs of the cloaks, a large stylized 'Z' was visible.

"Well, that confirms it." Damien said in a hushed tone "The Imperium and the Cult are in cahoots."

Kilena moved gracefully under the heavy cloak, her every step concealed by its flowing fabric and her every thought was on how impracticable it was to be constrained by the cloak. Kilena's purpose was clear, and the cloak was her shield, concealing her identity but it really would do not good if anyone tripped and fell. “Of course they are.” The woman commented as she the screen in her helmet to get a better look.

The number of enemies down there almost gave the Blue Ranger pause - almost. None of them struck him as being particularly tough - and that other red ranger was nowhere to be found. The cloak annoyed him, but for the moment, there was a need to be quiet. The weight on his armored shoulders reminded him of that fact. He was scanning for weapons, but the heavy cloaks the cultists were wearing made concealment too easy.

“We should get down there one by one and join in,” Kilena said looking at the group. It would be easier to slip in one by one but it was down to Damien and his thoughts on it all as leader.

"Agreed." Damien replied "Kilena, you and I will take point. Spencer, Dan and Ellie, get our backs. Julian and Keon hold position here until we signal you. We'll need overwatch."

"You mean watching over..." Keon trailed off. He was about to quip, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that, even with the training offered, he was well out of his league. "Yeah, we got you," he finished off, giving Julian a nod as well. Not that he knew a thing about their newest, and knowing what he knew about the last Silver Ranger - it was awkward. But he would make do.

"We'll keep an eye out," Ellie confirmed, nudging Spencer.

Valdana rolled her eyes that he called her Dan. She had not given him that permission but that was a discussion for another day.

"I have your butt covered." The orange ranger commented.

Once the red and pink got far enough away Kilena turned to Damien. "I haven't seen any of this before you ask." She whispered thinking back to their conversation on how to use her abilities. "I still cannot control it like everyone wants me to."

"I wasn't going to-" Damien began before sighing "Look, I won't lie and say that spidey sense wouldn't come in handy, but we can manage without it. Still got no extra super power here, remember? Not going to judge anyone for not controlling theirs."

“Good.” Kilena muttered. “And yes you were going to ask. It doesn’t work like that for future reference. We got lucky with the zords.” She reminded him before growing quiet as they moved into the Camp. Kilena knew the familiar layout but there were the people missing that she could remember being bent over tables inspecting items or like it was now in the evening people gathered around a communal fire as it cast an amber glow on excited faces exchanging tales and theories. It was empty other than the cloaked beings. The air was thick with the scent of aged soil from the holes between tents and table but there was nothing that seemed to have been found yet.

The pair continued into the camp. As they made their way slowly to the middle, a hand was placed on Damien's shoulder. He spun around, looking a large, imposing figure in metal armour resembling a magnet dead in the face.

"Pilgrims aren't permitted here!" The figure yelled at him "State your identity!"

"I'm the... Cook." Damien began, looking around "Figured you guys could use a good dinner."

"Humour. Organics care for this." The figure said "I don't. Get out of here, pilgrim!"

The metal figure grabbed Damien by the shoulder, half shoving, half throwing him to the side. As Damien staggered, his cloak snagged on one of the protruding rocks, being pulled back from him, revealing the Ranger suit underneath.

"Red Ranger!" The figure exclaimed "Drones, attack!"

"And there was me hoping this was going to be a more dramatic reveal!" Damien said sarcastically as a pair of Drones charged him, hitting the deck and sweeping a leg under them as he pressed two fingers to his ear "Guys, I think our cover's blown!"

"What'd you do, introduce yourself by color?" came the quippy reply. Despite that, Keon was ready to spring into action, looking over toward Julian. "We don't want them having all the fun."

Valdana rolled her eyes as she saw the red ranger stumbled and get revealed and then the sarcasm. Did he not know when to quit? “Let’s go save him. Kilena has melted into the crowd.” The orange ranger said to the blue and orange ranger as she flung over her cloak and revealed herself.

"I think next time we should just skip the hoods. I feel like the dark and mysterious thing gets lost when we're multi-colored evil stoppers," came a second quip as Keon found himself confronted with a Drone. He whipped his cloak off and threw it at the offending attacker as a distraction. "I mean, they found me and I've been minding my own business!"

The metal figure approached a half buried altar in the center of the dig site, picking up an object on the center of it and slapping it into the centre of his chest. Black and purple lightning covered his body, warping and distorting it. The magnets became more jagged, like the hands of a clock. He slammed one of the new protrusions down into the altar, a massive energy wave radiating out, striking the rangers in turn as the area around them changed; the dark, foreboding structures remained but the skies cleared, albeit retaining the lightning storm.

Damien scrambled to his feet, his visor shattered over his right eye, the HUD totally disabled. He pressed two fingers to his ear.

"Everyone, report?!" He yelled "Kilena, Spencer, status!"

Kilena watched in horror as the world around them shifted and the power hit her shattering her morph in an instance sending her flying into Valdana who’s morph shattered too.

“I…” Kilena scrambled to grab her rebreather but Valdana stopped her and indicated the sky.

“Something has changed.” The orange ranger whispered as she took out her rebreather from and took a deep breath. “The air is not toxic.” It could have been her being a different species than the others but Kilena did not look like she was struggling either.

"What's going on!?" Ellie called out as she forcibly de-morphed, trying to reach for the nearby Spencer in the confusion.

Spencer had started to talk as everything shifted around him. Something was wrong. Something had been changed, and the feeling of guidance in the back of his mind that had been there for weeks seemed to have disappeared as he grabbed for Ellie's arm. His eyes met hers for a moment with determination under the worry. "I've got you."

He tapped the radio earpiece with his other hand, glad he'd worn the thing under his helmet. "Reporting. Green and I are here, but have been demorphed. Will reattempt morphing when I get my feet back, but I have a feeling it might not work."

"Someone took our fancy suits?" Keon suggested unhelpfully with a shrug. He had yet to move from his seated position, ears ringing from the buzz of lightning. He gestured toward the altar. "From whatever was there..."

Kilena whirled around as she tried to work out what was different and realised something. “Where is … what is his name? The silver ranger.” She said not able to think of the silver rangers name suddenly. She could remember him being there but it was like it was only half remembered like a dream as she stumbled to her feet properly and looked around noticing the lightning and the alter still intact.

"Julian? He was right-" Keon blinked in bewilderment at the lack of another being standing behind him. That was where he was. "I thought he was. Maybe?" He shrugged. "Well, we just have some dumb luck. Or we pissed off an alien super-being. Or a god. Let's... hope we didn't piss off another one of those. I feel like we have enough enemies."

"We had a male Silver Ranger?" Damien asked, sounding genuinely confused "I thought it had only been Kyarah."

Spencer looked around as well, shaking his head and trying not to think too hard about what kind of force could have taken them out of sync with their morphs. "There was another, I know that. But I can't remember who it was. Something has drastically changed, and I don't know what or why. I bet that guy over there does, though. And we're still the only people on the planet who want to take him down. Can any of us morph? Or do we retreat and see if the giant robots work?"

“Can’t summon the Zords without morphing.” Kilena remarked as she indicated for everyone to move back as the metal figure looked at the group and let out a laugh.

“You stupid rangers. I have a time crystal now and I can change everything I need.” He chuckled and disappeared in another bolt of lightning. He did not have time to play with rangers now that he had what he needed. Kilena looked at the structure uneasy as it she was waiting for something else to happen.

Keon gave the silver figure an odd look. He had a thought, but saying that out loud could have gotten them all in more trouble. Instead, he glanced toward the others. "I'm all for throwing rocks. One of em will have to hit."

“Not a clue what is happening but it going to happen again.” Kilena declared as she saw it in her mind a second before the energy burst out of the structure again. It looked less powerful to Kilena but it did not help much as this time it hit the rangers un morphed.

 

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