Chapter 33: Fires

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From out of the corner of her helmet visor, Kendrix' heads up display drew her attention towards a small lightning surge. "Guys, I'm picking up something from over there."

"Let's end this," replied Taylor.

The Chronic Storm Rangers started to follow Kendrix towards another building. They detected a second crackle of lightning followed closely by panicking civilians looking to escape the area. As they turned the corner, they noticed an open door still in motion leading into a fairly tall construct. They carefully approached the door, readying their blasters throughout their cautious steps.

The Rangers then received a communication from Leo. "Carter, you were a firefighter, right?"

"Yes, I was."

"We've got people trapped inside one of the buildings. Some of the emergency extinguishers aren't working and we need a safe way to get them out."

"I'm on my way." Carter looked to the others. "Taylor, you take point."

"We can handle it. Go," replied Taylor.

"I'll be back soon with the cavalry." Carter quickly departed the scene.

The remaining four Rangers carefully opened up the building door to reveal some type of factory lined with conveyor belts that look to have been used somewhat recently. A quick heat scan by Kendrix confirmed that anyone working here already evacuated successfully. Only a single signature could be found, one that steadily rose in height.

"She's headed up the stairs," said Kendrix.

"Then we got her," Ethan replied.

Jason shook his head. "She has to be leading us up there for a reason."

"Should we wait for the cavalry?" asked Ethan.

Taylor took a few moments to consider their options. "I say we take her right now. Any objections?"

No one voiced any concerns. The team trekked onward, elevating up the facility stairs until they reached the door that led directly to the roof. Taylor motioned the others to hold their positions while Kendrix quickly scanned the perimeter once more.

"She right in front of us," said Kendrix.

Taylor got out her Chronic Blaster and powered it up. "Don't even give her a second to breathe, got it?"

Ethan and Kendrix followed suit, locking and loading their blasters.

Jason readied his a little slower, his gaze holding to it while he tried to focus his mind.

His pace was not lost on Taylor. "Kid, if you're not up for this—"

"No...! No, I'm ready."

Taylor hesitated to make another command. She saw Jason start to calm down and focus, even behind that tinted visor. She gently smacked the side of his helmet before nodding. "Alright... let's go."

Taylor burst through the door with the others closely following. They had their blasters ready to fire, but all that lay in front of them was a peculiar metallic pole radiating heat from its surface.

"Huh?" Ethan asked. "What is that thing?"

Kendrix ran another scan on her Morpher, but oddly enough, the heat signature the pole exuded matched with that of a normal life form. "That's strange. I've never seen the Morpher glitch before."

From behind the roof door, Diane emerged with electricity crackling around her hands. She fired upon an unsuspecting Ethan, striking his backside and sending him careening to the ground. His Ranger mode quickly dissipated inside a flash of blue light, revealing a sizable black burn mark draped across his backside that cut through his uniform and seared his skin.

"Ethan!!!" cried Jason as the others ran towards him.

Ethan's labored breathing kept him from uttering a single word. He tried to pick himself up, but his rattling arms refused to drive him forward as he dropped back upon the hard roof.

Diane launched another electric attack aimed for Taylor, but Taylor quickly activated her own electrical powers and countered the surge.

Diane couldn't help but smirk. "I had nearly forgotten about approving that feature; the only thing those damned Triforians ever contributed to the kingdom. However..." She now powered up her electricity with both hands and launched it at Taylor.

Jason quickly got in front of Taylor. Diane's heart stopped for just a moment as she watched her son prepare to take the strike head-on. She knew she could not stop it now. Jason then focused his aura into his fist and punched away the electrical surge with an upper-cut, launching it up towards the clouds like a reverse thunderstorm.

Jason's green fist emitted smoke from the heat of the attack. "You... have to be stopped... whatever the cost!"

"Jason, my son. Could you really bring yourself to attack your own mother? What do you owe these freaks when it was I who dedicated my life to raising you and bringing you up as a proper man?"

Kendrix and Taylor both stood next to Jason to face her down.

"No," stated Jason coldly. "These 'freaks' are my family, the only one I've ever had. They made me into a man while you kept me locked away, letting me only pretend to be one. So keep every lie you've ever sold me about my protection or doing things for my benefit! You've only ever cared about yourself."

Diane stood perturbed by his resolve.

"Not bad, kid," Taylor replied before looking to Kendrix. "How's Ethan?"

"He's thankfully stable, for now. I don't know for how long though."

Taylor nodded. "Then we'll make this quick. Kid, you go left. Kendrix, go right."

"Got it," Kendrix and Jason replied together.

The trio charged towards Diane with blasters in hand.

"So be it," Diane stated. "Once these pests are dealt with, none of this will have meant a thing." She got into a fighting stance and started shooting electricity once more.

The trio managed to dodge the lightning barrages while closing in on Diane's position. Once they moved in close enough, they swarmed her with their own firepower, drowning her in lasers. Diane used her armored arms to shield her face as the blaster rounds bounced right off. The trio got closer and started to throw punches and kicks, but Diane's surprisingly quick feet and swift movements made landing a clean blow a trying task. She evaded, juked, and blocked before surprising Taylor with a swift knee to the gut followed up by a kick to her helmet that bounced her across the roof.

"Taylor!" cried Jason.

Taylor picked herself up. "Stay focused, kid!"

Jason's focus returned to the fight at hand. Kendrix nodded at him and he nodded back. They proceeded to attack Diane from the left and from the right. As she evaded their blows, the pair kept darting and moving around, avoiding her lightning blasts and keeping her off balance. Soon, they advanced enough to engage in hand to hand combat again, but Diane grabbed Kendrix' arm and flung her away. Then, she grabbed a hold of Jason's arms before he could mount another attack.

"You'd be wise to not underestimate my fighting skills. There is no Morpher in existence that can stand against years of practice."

Jason kicked her grip away while Kendrix got back to her feet with Taylor right beside her. The trio tried the same tactic again, but this time, when they got within range for hand to hand combat, Jason faked a punch and ducked down, allowing Kendrix to land a kick from behind him. The deceptive blow knocked Diane back.

As she reeled, Taylor followed up from behind with a punch that landed squarely on her jaw. "Stay on her and keep her guessing!"

The Rangers continued coming after Diane while attacking from different directions, each time with a new wrinkle. Taylor then leaped into the air and used the glare of the sun to cripple Diane's vision. Jason and Kendrix followed up with a double kick straight into Diane's midsection.

Diane found herself short of breath. Her once flat and controlled expression grew in tenacity and fury with each passing moment. "That's it, enough games!" She started charging up her lightning again, but this time, it began to surround her entire body.

Jason gazed helplessly into the unrelenting eyes of the Queen while she slowly crept forward. He could feel her glare cutting through to his soul, weakening his resolve yet again and compromising his fighting stance.

Taylor quickly grabbed him by the helmet and forced him to look at her. "You are NOT quitting on me right now!"

Diane saw her chance and aimed her arm towards Taylor before firing a jolt of electricity. Taylor quickly pushed Jason out of the way before charging up her own electric power and countering the Queen's surge. But her defensive lightning quickly became overpowered by the attack as agonizing volts began pumping through Taylor's body. She could barely open her eyes while gritting her teeth and grieving in pain, but she managed to force them open and started slowly walking forward while cloaked in a veil of sparks.

Her heads up display flashed red with all manner of warnings and alerts, but she disregarded them while gradually picking up her pace. Before too long, she started jogging, then running, towards Diane through the electrocution.

Jason and Kendrix stood in awe of her will power, but regained focus and tried to fire blaster rounds at Diane from the side. The blasters still proved ineffective against her electrical barrier, but they kept Diane in place while Taylor continued to push forward.

Diane's eyes widened ever so slowly as a grunting, screaming Taylor charged faster and faster until she managed to tackle Diane and viciously slam her to the ground.

An exasperated Taylor forcibly demorphed, breathing heavily while she stared upon the face of the unconscious Queen. She opened her mouth, but the words couldn't come out. She hadn't the lung capacity. Instead, she collapsed on the floor next to her while taking deep breaths in and out.

Jason and Kendrix rushed over to her to help her up.

After a few steps with support, Taylor patted them both on the back and started to gingerly walk on her own again. "I'll... be fine... Let's get... Ethan... out of here." She continued to limp forward with a ripped uniform and a bloodstained face.

"Okay, I'll handle Diane," Kendrix said as she turned towards her.

Jason nodded before following Taylor towards Ethan. He could tell, even from here, that he was still breathing. He let out a sigh of relief before picking up his pace.

Suddenly, a red beam quickly zipped by the right side of his face. He could only perceive it for a moment as his body began to tremble incessantly.

The beam struck Taylor's back and dug through her insides before blasting out from her chest. Her frame shook as a crimson stain painted her uniform. While trying to apply pressure onto her fresh wound, she started coughing up even more blood before collapsing upon the ground right next to Ethan.

Kendrix quickly noticed the blaster in Diane's hand and tried to kick it away. But Diane swept her legs, sending her to the floor while the Queen wore a fiendish smirk. "Upended by the simplest of ruses. It's a miracle you 'heroes' ever managed to save anyone."

Jason's twitching eyes and shivering head darted rapidly at all of his teammates with tears pouring down his helmet-covered face. The visor started to fog up, clouding his vision before the inbuilt systems cleared it all away. But still, his arms rattled and shook. His senses seemed to fade all over again. The dancing colors returned to mock and taunt him. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes while a familiar steam started to rise from his Ranger suit.

...

All the while, Carter joined the Galaxy Rangers in clearing the streets and evacuating as many people as possible. However, an entire floor of civilians remained trapped inside one of the burning residential complexes. While Alex and the enforcers lead the rescued people to safety, Carter and the Galaxy Rangers broke through the door and entered the building.

Carter's heads up display calculated the ideal path towards the trapped people 3 floors up. It also informed him of which doors would be most dangerous to open, lest the fire meet a trapped pocket of oxygen and weaken the construct further. His eyes panned over the information quickly. While surrounded by familiar walls of flames, his old instincts started to return.

The Galaxy Rangers followed close behind him before they approached a closed door. Carter's heads up display informed him that the best way up laid in front of them. He touched the door and felt the heat it exuded.

"Is this the way?" asked Kai.

"The odds are low, but... this doesn't feel right. And if we're wrong, the fires inside could leap out at us and compromise the foundation. The whole floor could come down."

"Which would take the building down with it," added Damon.

"Exactly."

"Wait. I've got an idea," Leo said. "Carter, does fighting fire with fire actually work?"

"Yeah, it can. It's hard to explain the details right now, but can you do it?"

"Sure can. It came with the suit." Leo lined up in front of the door and outstretched his hands in front of him. From out of his hands manifested a flame that he launched at the door. As Carter feared, the flames trapped inside the room tried to rapidly escape and burn the floor further, but Leo's flames ate away at the oxygen before they could cause significant damage. "Did it work?"

"You did it, Leo!" replied Carter.

"What's next?" asked Karone.

Carter turned his gaze upwards. "Up the stairs, two floors. And then, down the hallway. We've got to watch the structural integrity moving forward. Maya, Kai, head to the floor right below the civilians. If it starts to go, let us know."

"Understood," replied Kai.

"We're on it," added Maya.

The Rangers rushed up the heated, fire drenched stairs as Kai and Maya split off to monitor the floor just below the trapped people. Carter, Leo, Damon, and Karone raced up to the next floor, quickly bearing witness to a burning metal beam keeping the civilians at bay on the other side of the hall while a wall of fire cloaked the furthest backdrop, trapping them in place.

Carter's head up display gave him the quick details. "Titanium beams. Class D fire. I thought as much. And the people are pinned in on top of that."

"Can we burn away that fire, too? Escape out the back?" asked Leo.

"No. We would need a dry powder fire extinguisher, which my suit doesn't have. We'll have to fight this fire in a less traditional way."

"What does that mean?" asked Damon.

Carter rushed through the hallway, making sure to avoid the soft spots. His darting eyes and quick mind could recognize the floor's weak points before his heads up display could warn him of them. Then he leaped over the steel beam and made it to the trapped group of people; two children and three adults.

"Everything's going to be okay."

"Save our kids first, please!!!" cried a middle-aged mother holding tightly to her son.

Carter nodded and looked back at the beam, thinking quickly through his options. Destroying the beam would be extremely risky. The building could collapse. But the other side of the hallway is blocked off completely by a wall of fire that the firefighters can't reach yet. We can't risk waiting, either.

A bead of sweat started to roll down Carter's forehead while his mind continued to race. The second the bead of sweat hit his eye, it came to him. Wait a second... all of this heat and I didn't even notice. I've barely been sweating.

He looked back to the people. "Everyone, listen up! We're going to make it through this, but you all need to listen closely. We're all going to clear that burning beam over there, one by one."

"Are you out of your mind!?" cried one of the male adults while his crying son buried his face inside his chest.

Carter removed his Morpher from his wrist, demorphing him instantly. "You've all been picked to become honorary Power Rangers. The suit this Morpher provides will protect you from the flames, but you've got to be willing to make the jump. The suit will help with that, too."

The people all traded panicked stares at each other. But a middle-aged man that didn't seem connected to anyone else present stepped up. "I-I'll do it."

Carter nodded and gave him the Morpher. When it latched on, Carter pushed the morphing sequence button for him. Just as soon, he was transformed into the Red Ranger.

The man stared all around at his new suit with speechless exasperation. "Whoa... this feels incredible!"

"I know, but we're on the clock." Carter placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "All you have to do is run, jump, land, press that button again, and then have one of my friends over there toss the Morpher back."

The man nodded and looked towards the metal beam. After a few deep, nervous breathes, he loosened up his arms while hopping up and down a bit before starting his run. He winced a bit as he got closer to the beam before closing his eyes completely. He took the leap, barely clearing the beam with eyes still closed before tripping on the floor below.

"Great job! I'll get you to safety." Leo ran up to him and acquired Carter's Morpher. "Carter, heads up!"

Leo tossed the Morpher over the beam and Carter caught it. "Alright, who's next?"

One of the children, a young boy no older then 10, coyly raised his hand. "Mister Ranger... I'm not big enough."

"Don't you worry about that. The suit always fits the person you are, trust me."

Carter attached the Morpher to the kid and pressed the sequence. Just as soon, the child morphed up into a miniature Red Ranger.

He then looked back at his mother who wore a smile on her face. "It's okay, sweetie. Mommy will be right behind you. You're so brave."

The kid then looked back at the beam and started running. He stumbled a bit, but didn't stop. Then, he cleared the metal beam with a tumble and roll on the landing.

Karone stood ready and waiting for him on the other side. "We got him."

She threw the Morpher back to Carter and fitted the boy's mother with the Morpher. She didn't hesitate to morph and make the jump, soon joining her son before Karone led them out of the building.

The plan was working, but when Carter turned around, he witnessed the last child, another boy around 8 years old, screaming and crying while his father tried to get him to settle down.

"Carter!" Kai communicated. "The ceiling is starting to chip away at a dangerous rate. Your floor is losing integrity and fast. How much longer do you need?"

"Two civilians left. Hold you position, just in case."

Carter then looked back to the last two people. "Sir, we don't have time for this. Go first and I promise I'll get your son out of here."

"B-But..." The father looked back and forth from the fire and to his teary-eyed son before Carter slapped the Morpher on him and pushed the button.

"Go!"

The father nodded before running and leaping over the beam. Damon secured him and tossed the Morpher back to Carter.

"The fire is getting even hotter!" Damon cried. "We need to get outta here!"

Just one more remained. Carter could see the roof above them cracking and chipping off alongside the floor below them growing weaker. He turned to the crying child and bent down on one knee with Morpher in hand. "Hey, I know you're scared. I was too. I was trapped in a building just like this when I was about your age. But you don't have to be afraid." He placed the Morpher on his wrist. "Because with this, you can be a superhero. And there's nothing a superhero can't do,

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