The Reluctant Ranger - Interlude: Kayla

Revelations about Sinclair and his skeevy business practices and research aside, Kayla couldn’t say she was liking how the day was shaking out.  Grace was beside her girlfriend the moment she fell over and began to seize, and thank the powers above that the woman knew what to do in a situation like that.

Mostly because Kayla herself was completely frozen at the sight of one of her best friends once again dying in front of her just an hour after she finally found her.  It was all she could do to sit there and watch the bloody foam fall from Nicole’s mouth as Grace tried to keep her from drowning in the vomit. 

“She overdrew.” 

The voice nearly startled her, it was still one she associated with great danger after all, and she was still wary of the Sylan that had accompanied Nicole on her latest misadventure.  Unlike Rebecca and Colin, her ears weren’t bleeding despite them looking like hyper sensitive elf ears. 

“The seizure isn’t subsiding,” Grace said, and anyone with half a brain cell could pick up the panic in her voice. 

Maraline stood slowly, be it out of pain or to show she wasn’t hostile was difficult to tell.  “You lack the necessary technology to help bleed off the energy.  Given what the Yellow Ranger did with the previous expenditure, a secondary source of assistance might be prudent?”

“What, like the Sylan fleet in orbit?” Devon snapped.  “Like hell we’re letting you take her back there.” 

Maraline turned a glare upon the man.  “If I ever return, it will be unwillingly, and should I survive, I won’t be the same woman any longer.” 

“Either help or shove off,” Grace snapped, still trying to keep Nicole from thrashing too much. 

Maraline pushed past Devon, who was petty enough to make her shoulder past him.  Kayla followed in her wake, offering the man her best stern glare as she did, not that it ever phased him.  Just because he was eye candy didn’t mean that he could just be a dick to everyone, and despite everything, the lesson was proving to be slow to stick. 

But it was starting to stick, Kayla had to remember that, because he was getting better. 

“What are our options?” Grace demanded as Maraline knelt down beside her. 

“The ship we found had technology beyond even Syla,” Maraline said, pulling a device from the pouch at her hip.  Every instinct told Kayla that it wasn’t safe, that it was some sort of trick.  “This is similar to the device the Yellow Ranger used, but it will disperse rather than store.” 

Grace didn’t hesitate.  “Do it.” 

Before Kayla could say anything, Maraline set the device atop Nicole’s convulsing form and activated it.  Negative light flared as if Nicole had morphed, but faded as quickly as it appeared.  Kayla blinked the spots away, but Nicole’s convulsions had fallen still, her breathing steady. 

“I had hoped that to be a last resort,” Maraline said, taking her hand away from the device.  “It will take time to dissipate all the energy.  After that, I feel you should hold onto it, if only to foster trust between us.”

“It’s a start,” Grace said, her eyes fixed upon the device that was clearly helping their teammate.  “I’m guessing this came from the ship that she mentioned?” 

Right, the mysterious ship that she mentioned and they had no proof of.  As much as Kayla disliked Anita, her suspicions were at least grounded enough that Kayla hadn’t dismissed them outright.  Now she was almost wishing that she had.

“It was given to us by the ship’s caretaker intelligence,” Maraline said.  “I am uncertain if it is artificial in origin, but they have dwelled here for over thirty millennia.” 

Thirty… 

Kayla had to take a step back, leaning against her boyfriend as she did.  That was older than any civilization on the planet, and they’ve just been chilling somewhere undiscovered for all that time?  She almost wanted to laugh at the scale of it, 

“Not to butt in,” Jeff said, “but shouldn’t we be getting everyone medical attention?  Like, at an actual hospital?” 

“No way in hell that Sinclair isn’t having the hospitals monitored,” Kayla said, shaking her head.  “Hate to say it, but that ship’s looking more and more like the safer option.” 

“Then we had best set out,” Maraline said. 

Just as she stood, a shrill sound rang from Grace’s pocket, a familiar tone given how often they hung out.  It was the ringtone she set for emergency fire response.  Grace pulled it with a grimace, then her eyes widened.

“Shit, we’ve got a Sylan incursion in Brooklyn Park.” 

Kayla let out a groan.  “Would it kill them to hit Maple Grove?  Maybe some of the lakefront properties?” 

“Don’t you live there?” Devon asked.

Kayla grinned.  “I do, but not on the lakefront.”

Devon rolled his eyes but his face quickly turned grim.  “What do we do?  Anita just took a beating and even with their machine Rangers they might not be able to handle it.” 

“That’s assuming Sinclair even reveals them,” Jeff said.  “Something tells me he’s going to sit on those as a secret anti-Sylan defense reserved for the highest bidders.” 

Kayla snorted, because that was probably the most dead accurate thing she’d heard in months.  With how paranoid the man was about the Sylan—and rightly so in most cases—there was no way he would tip his hand early, not so soon after figuring out how to actually make them.  That Anita was even allowed to bring them along… 

Wait.

Was she actually allowed, or did she pull one of her usual ‘ask forgiveness rather than permission’ deals again?  Eh, questions that wouldn’t be answered if asked.  Right, that meant it was up to them, but they were down a member at best and something told her they were about to be down more.

“Can you just split up?” 

Kayla nearly jumped at the less familiar voice, surprised that Grace’s sister had spoken up.  The blonde stood firmly, her expression far harder than a teen should be capable of.  If Kayla had a say in things, that old perv wouldn’t have survived their encounter.  Kayla didn’t blame her friends for not going through with it, but neither of them were killers.

Not like she was.

“We could,” Grace said.  “But who would go where?” 

Jeff huffed.  “As if we would ask you to leave Nicole’s side.  Take her to that ship, along with the others.  We’ll handle whatever the Sylan sends our way.” 

“Damn right we will,” Kayla said enthusiastically.  She’d left her past firmly where it belonged, and while she hadn’t lied to her friends, she did leave out a few key details.  “Those machines won’t know what hit them.” 

“And neither will the mutant,” Devon agreed.  He then leveled a glare upon Maraline.  “You’re getting your wish it seems.  You hurt Nicole, I’ll kill you personally.” 

Oh honey, there would be a line for that honor and you are nowhere near the front of it.

Marline gave a firm nod, then reached for the morpher on Nicole’s wrist and pressed the two buttons.  “Progenitor, we have a situation.  Nicole is down, overdrawn.” 

“Acknowledged,” came the reply, and since when were their morphers able to do that?  “I’ve been monitoring her vitals since the fighting started.  Nicole is stable but will be off her feet for days without further care.” 

“Care you can provide?” Grace asked. 

“Affirmative,” the voice said.  “Not to be insensitive to your species, but your technology is many thousands of years behind our own.” 

“You know when you phrase it like that,” Kayla just had to quip, because could they have been any more condescending than that? 

“I assure you, the sentiment was intended,” they answered. 

Huh, maybe they weren’t so bad after all if they understood sarcasm.  Now Kayla really wanted to meet this ancient alien and see how well they held up to a proper battle of wits and pithy insults.

“Flirt later,” Jeff said, rolling his eyes.  “We are a bit pressed for time here.” 

“Of course,” the alien said.  “Triangulating location, anyone not wishing to join us in the ship should step back three meters from Nicole’s morphing device.” 

Kayla did just that, sparing a glance for Devon and Jeff who were staying with her to help fight whatever was attacking the city.  And it wasn’t like it would be just the three of them, Carlos was still in town and was likely already engaged, or in place to join in once they arrived.  There was a worry that this was a mistake, that she wouldn’t see her friends ever again, but right now it was also their best chance. 

Possibility of capture was better than a guarantee. 

“Kick their asses for me,” Grace said. 

“Damn right we will,” Kayla answered, flashing a thumbs up. 

Light pulsed from Nicole’s morpher, the glow suffusing each person within the limited range.  It built steadily, chasing away the darkness of night itself, then each person shot off into the sky in a streak of light, Grace’s own shining crimson and Nicole a void in the night that set them apart from the uncolored others, though she could have sworn one of them was almost blue… 

She could figure out who it was later, because they had some robotic ass to go kick first.

***

Despite expectations to the contrary, the city was not on fire when they finally crossed the Mississippi.  Hell, there weren’t even signs of a single building burning, which was practically unheard of on any given day according to her fire fighting friends.

That didn’t mean that things weren’t amiss, what with the lumbering giant of a kaiju straight out of a campy Japanese flick from sixty years ago.  Seriously, it even looked like a man in a rubber suit with the way it moved.  It stood at least thirty meters tall, probably closer to forty if someone actually measured it.

A mangled hand with claws longer than her body tore through the side of an apartment building as Kayla kicked off a rooftop, pushing her speed to the limits.  The creature opened its stubby jaw, saliva dripping from the short but jagged teeth as it roared out a cry that rattled the air worse than any explosion she had ever heard.

That was the perk of the Ranger tech, no matter what the source of it was or why it had been given to them, it still let them fight against the monsters destroying their home.  A thick tail lashed through a fucking playground as the beast rammed head first into the building that hadn’t gone down from the claw swipe and it pushed.

Kayla landed atop a strip mall across the highway just in time to have a front row seat to the impromptu demolition.  It wasn’t a spectacular display, just a slow toppling of a structure as it gave in to the weight of a massive creature bearing against it. 

“Dear God,” Devon said, his voice breathless. 

It wasn’t hard to see why, because that building hadn’t been evacuated.  Kayla’s fists tightened, memories of her time in Europe flashing through her mind.  She’d been there when the invasion kicked off, and not the Sylan one, though she was there for that too.  Those memories are why she picked up a weapon and tried to help defend innocents at the Renfaire.  She’d done the same back then as a fresh out of high school brat high off defying daddy to disappear into Europe for a few years. 

Funny how fast that attitude fled in the face of flying shrapnel. 

Another concern was the veritable army of automatons down in the streets, and the lone Ranger in shining gold attempting to stem the tide.  Kayla’s in motion before she’s fully processed the fact that Carlos was down there alone, just that someone needed backup and she was exactly that. 

As much of a mess as the big fucker was, there wasn’t much she could do about it while also dealing with over a hundred machines.  Her staff appeared in hand with a shimmer of flimmering leaves, and thorns burst through the asphalt just before she joined the fray.  Jeff crashed into a machine a moment later, spearing it through easily enough.

Then he showboats by almost pole dancing the bleed off the momentum.

Not for the first time Kayla wondered why she loved the man, but then she remembered what he looked like outside the suit and she pushed the thought aside.  No, she wasn’t quite that shallow, but looks definitely played a part in it for her.  Sure, he was fun and quick witted, and knew all the best songs by heart, but goddamn were his abs yummy. 

Right, distracted. 

Kayla swept her staff out, the action almost instinctual as vines rushed out to spear through a dozen machines with that single action.  It was crowd control, and she could only do so much before the strain became too great and the power just stopped responding.  The pain never got as bad as what happened with Nicole, but she could at least sympathize with the girl over it.

Devon took to the field next, his shield pushing back the machines to give them some breathing room even as she and Jeff continued to tear into the ranks. 

“You’re late,” Carlos snapped. 

Which honestly was fair. 

“Had a few visitors to entertain,” Kayla said, sending a storm of sharpened petals into the mass of droids.  “Nicole stopped by, then Anita crashed the party with exploding droid Rangers.” 

“You know,” Jeff added.  “The usual.” 

Carlos actually paused in his fighting and Kayla was quick to cover his lapse in awareness with a few lashing vines.  The helmets were always a pity in that people’s faces were always covered which meant no seeing their expressions when you nailed a one liner or threw them so far off their game they were lost.

Which in hindsight might make this the wrong time to really be poking at people for reactions, but it is simply too fun to not do it.  It was strange to consider that she’d been a Ranger for barely two months—one of which was basically downtime—but already fighting the automaton masses was starting to feel rote. 

Being a Ranger was supposed to be exciting and full of action, which made it all the more maddening that fighting the more common machines was almost as boring as running a checkout lane at times.  Not that Kayla would ever voice it and tempt the universe.  Those gold machines she fought left quite the impression and she wasn’t eager for another round. 

The Kaiju let out another roar, the ground trembling from its thundering footfalls.  The machines were falling quickly, which meant they needed a plan of action against the behemoth.  Kayla decided being proactive was for the best and slammed her staff to the ground, reaching out for any and all roots in the area to converge, grabbing hold of the monster’s leg. 

It stepped and then stumbled, arms flailing for a moment before it teetered over and crashed to the ground.  Everything shattered, dropping down through the sewers built up under the streets.  Another building crumbled as the beast tried to push itself upright, claws slinging half-frozen sludge through the air. 

“Talk about a shit storm,” Jeff said as the droplets began to fall all over them.

The lack of smell through the helmet was never more appreciated, and she punched her boyfriend’s shoulder on principle for the comment.  Thank fuck the suits didn’t obey standard physics and the shit literally slid right off of them.  The remaining machines had tumbled with the impact and the Rangers were quick enough on the recovery to leverage that into a swift cleanup, leaving just the kaiju to contend with. 

“So, who gets to climb up there first?” Jeff asked, looking at the struggling beast. 

Devon stepped forward, his sword resting on his shoulder.  “Given that it can’t even stand, do we need to rush into this?” 

“People are still getting hurt,” Carlos said.  “I’d prefer we put it down sooner than later if at all possible.” 

“Fair enough,” Kayla said, sending a few more roots to pin down the arm attempting to be used as leverage and denying it.  “I think I can keep it pinned for a while.  It’s big and strong, but not at all suited for fighting anything remotely able to mess with its balance.” 

“Because it was a distraction.” 

Kayla turned, bring up her staff just in time to catch the strike before it took her head off.  That was great and all, but the force of it was still enough to take her off her feet and send her tumbling across the street.  She righted herself and skidded through broken droids, glaring daggers at the new arrival. 

Jeff and Carlos fell a step behind Devon, his shield at the ready and staring down the bitch that tried to get a cheap shot in on her.  Kayla stood, and walked forward to join their formation.  Across from them stood a purple skinned woman with tufts of blue fur cut into clear stripes and patterns that probably meant something to the enemy general. 

“Now,” General Guiana said, rapier at the ready.  “Where has my troubled ward run off to?”

***

Not entirely happy with this one and would love some feedback on areas to expand and tweak for the eventual public release.