Power Rangers: Marvel Mayhem - "The Invincible"

[CyberRanger86]

Hey, everybody.

This will be my first story here on the forum for my fan fiction series, "Power Ranges: Marvel Mayhem", which will be a crossover between Operation Overdrive and the new Iron Man film. I will have the first chapter up by sometime tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy this promo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoVgnAuSJBo) that I created for the story, as well as an another that I will write starting next month with S.P.D., Dino Thunder, and The Incredible Hulk.

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter One

Billionaire adventurer Andrew Hartford had been to many places all over the world for many years. But he could never remember when he had last visited Las Vegas, even as he arrived there with his team of Power Rangers (his son—Mack Hartford—the Red Ranger, a spy-for-hire—Will Aston—the Black Ranger, a highly skilled film stuntman—Dax Lo—the Blue Ranger, a top race car driver—Ronny Robinson—the Yellow Ranger, a Mensa level genius—Rose Ortiz—the Pink Ranger, and an alien from a race known as Mercurians—Tyzonn—the Mercury Ranger).

They were all there to attend the award presentation of Hartford’s good and personal friend, Tony Stark, at Caesars Palace. When first told about their trip there, Tyzonn expressed great interest in the idea, believing to be actually visiting the palace of Julius Caesar as another quest to search for another jewel. But it took a lot of explaining (and a lot of visual aid) to convince Tyzonn that they were going to a different place.

Even after all the explaining his fellow Rangers had done, Tyzonn was still perplexed upon stepping into the Caesars Palace of Las Vegas, seeing the similarities between the two versions. “I don’t understand why you would replicate a sacred landmark for the purpose of personal gain,” Tyzonn stated.

Will tried to refrain from laughing, as he volunteered himself in explaining everything to the Mercurian again. “It’s just a gimmick, Ty. It’s not out of disrespect or anything.”

Tyzonn nodded his head only slightly, still a bit confused on the whole thing. He tried not to question too much of the customs on this planet known as Earth, because he wanted to be a part of them so much. So as he and the others went through the Caesars Palace complex, he tried not to seem too out of place than he already was with his Mercury eyes and his Overdrive attire (which all of them were wearing that evening).

Just as soon as they had reached the doors to the ballroom, Andrew heard applauding from inside, cluing him in on the fact that the presentation had already started. He turned to the others and said, “We’ll walk in quietly, so that we won’t disrupt Rhodey and his speech.”

“Rhodey?” Mack remarked, reacting to the name like it were a new organism or something.

“I’ll explain later.” Andrew said. “We’re late.” And before he could attempt to open one of the doors, it suddenly opened by itself, much to his surprise.

Coming out of the ballroom was a man with a shaved head and a salt-and-pepper beard that made him look older than he was. This man was Obadiah Stane, the chief financial officer of Tony Stark’s company, Stark Industries. And he was holding the plaque that was supposed to have been awarded to Tony Stark himself. It confused Andrew and the others to see him holding it instead.

Andrew attempted to ask what was going on, but Stane had completely walked away from him and the Rangers before he had the chance. It was only by the time James Rhodes, another close and personal friend of Tony’s, appeared when the group got the answers they wanted.

“Out of all the things he could’ve missed, his missed his own damn award ceremony!” Rhodes exclaimed, seeming very aggravated.

Andrew peeked through the doorway and noticed how all of the people in attendance were leaving the ballroom, none of who was Tony Stark. Turning his focus back on Rhodes, he asked, “What happened?”

“Stark ditched out on us.” Rhodes said.

They all exchanged confused looks, each wondering the same question that Rose suddenly brought herself to ask Rhodes: “Where is he?”

Rhodes frowned as he said, “I’m willing to take a wild guess.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A moment later, they arrived in the casino section of Caesars Palace, which appeared just as bizarre to Tyzonn as the rest of the hotel. Seeing all of those people standing near tables (rolling small cubes with white dots) and large machines (pulling a lever repeatedly while gazing upon symbols that appeared at the front), he wondered what urged them all to take part in the activities. And while he moved away from the team to watch some of these people, the others found who they were looking for.

Standing at a craps table, Tony Stark threw the red dice across the green felt of the table. He leaned forward, watching them bounce, roll, and ricochet off the far end, finally coming to a halt. The crowd erupted in cheers, since Stark had his number and taken it upon himself to lay down bets for everyone around him. A massive pile of chips was slid across the table to land in front of him, while smaller piles were doled out to the people surrounding him.

“Why am I not surprised?” Andrew sarcastically said about the sight before all of them. “He’s always been a compulsive gambler.”

Stark sensed, before he even saw, the group heading his way. He wasn’t expecting to see Rhodey or Hartford and his Ranger team there at all. The last he’d heard, they were supposed to have been in Washington, D.C., not Las Vegas.

“Hello, Tony.” Andrew said, while motioning towards the craps table. “I see you’ve been working hard to earn your winnings.”

“Don’t you have some sixty foot Iguana-looking thing to fight, Hartford?” Stark teased.

Andrew smirked. “I came here as a friend to cheer you on as you get your award. Not while you’re gambling away your whole life.”

“Not my whole life,” Stark said. “Just part of it.”

“They said you’d be deeply honored if I presented you with this award.” Rhodes said, right before he unceremoniously dumped the plaque on the felt surface of the table. “Lots of people would consider that award a serious honor.”

Stark looked at the plaque with undisguised distaste. “It belongs to my old man,” he said and looked back to the dice as if that pronouncement settled the entire matter.

“I would stop if I were you, Mr. Stark.” Will told him.

Tony looked away from the dice and towards Will curiously. “Beg your pardon?”

“Kicking as much butt as you are, I wouldn’t risk my chances.” Will suggested, indicating Stark’s attempt at rolling his dice again.

Stark looked long and hard at Will, almost as if he was studying him a little, and then he said, “Well that’s the fun of it all, kid.” And after telling him that, he rolled the dice and watched them bounce across the table.

A smile came to Will’s face as moans erupted from everyone around Stark, just as the dice crapped out. He refrained from saying anything, while Stark turned to him in a scolding manner. “You cooled my table,” he said as a stack of the chips moved away from him and back into the house’s pot.

“You cooled your own table, Tony.” Andrew said. “Good luck runs out, remember that.”

Stark decided not to remember it at all. “Color me up,” he said to the boxman, who happily collected Stark’s lower-denomination chips and exchanged them for differently colored chips of a higher denomination. Seeing that Stark was making a chip exchange, his security entourage—which had made itself nicely invisible while he was at the table—correctly took that as their cue that the boss was about to go into motion.

Three security men, identically dressed in dark suits and nearly indistinguishable from one another, moved in to surround Stark. A fourth man joined them, taking point. He was a different sort from the guards, dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform that didn’t fit him particularly well. He had a lantern jaw, cauliflower ears, and a mashed-in nose, all of which cried out that this was a man who had spent a considerable portion of his life in a boxing ring. His mouth was turned in a permanent downward frown. Little surprise that the man, Harold Hogan, had been tagged with the shamelessly ironic nickname of “Happy.”

Everyone moved through the casino and created the same stir as if Stark were a rock star. People gawked, snapped pictures with their cameras or their telephones, and attempted to whisper to one another—in voices that carried—“Is that him?” “I think so.” “Couldn’t be.” “I thought he’d be taller?” “I thought he’d be shorter.”

Halfway through the casino, Ronny looked around at members of their entourage and realized something. “Hey, where did Tyzonn go?” Everyone stopped and looked around for their Mercurian friend. It was only until Dax noticed a roulette wheel when he found him.

“I think he’s lookin’ to win some big bucks.” Dax said, and everyone turned to the roulette wheel, surprised to find Tyzonn there.

Stark smiled. “Now there’s a guy who has great taste,” he said while walking towards Tyzonn. Rhodey plucked at his arm, trying to keep him moving, but Stark shook it off. He stood next to Tyzonn and confidently asked, “Come here often, my good man?”

Tyzonn, having no clue whom Tony Stark was (he only heard of him a few hours ago), responded with a simple “No.”

Stark again smiled, setting all the chips he had on the black square of the board. The croupier’s face turned ashen when he saw the amount. Seeing the croupier’s expression, Rhodey said in a low tone, “How much is that?”

Tony honestly wasn’t sure. He hadn’t been paying attention. He looked down at the stack, did fast mental calculations, and said carelessly, “Three million dollars.”

Andrew and the other Rangers made small choking noises in their throats, all at the same time. Hogan just rolled his eyes and Tyzonn, witnessing all of their reactions, asked puzzlingly, “Is that a lot?”

“Enough to put me through fifteen different colleges.” Mack replied.

Andrew Hartford knew there was no talking his friend out of this move, so he decided just to give him some friendly advice. “If you’re going through with this, I suggest you go with red.”

“Why? Because your kid’s modeled after the color?” Stark teased again.

“I’m serious, Tony. This is three million we’re talking about.” Andrew stated.

“Sometimes you gotta live on the edge. I want it all on black.”

Will shook his head and took a deep breath. “This is one time when I hate being that color.”

“Literally or figuratively.” Dax asked him, and Will shot him a dirty look.

Stark’s move prompted half a dozen other people to immediately put their own bets entirely on black. Noticing them all doing so, Tyzonn uttered, “I don’t understand the difference. I would just put them on both.”

“It’s part of the rules, Tyzonn.” Ronny told him. “It’s either red or black.”

“Well, in that case, I’d choose red.” Tyzonn said, and the croupier, believing that he was in the game, placed his bet in.

“No more bets, please, no more bets,” said the croupier as he sent the wheel spinning. After a few moments he dropped in the ball. It clattered around the wheel, bounding from one pocket to the next to the next. Stark watched it. He was waiting for the excitement to build. To his disappointment, it didn’t happen. At most, he was somewhat interested, and even that was married to a degree of detachment.

As he watched the ball ricochet relentlessly, Rhodey said, “Listen, about tomorrow. We should be doing the test here in Vegas, not in a hot zone.”

“The system has to be demonstrated in true field conditions,” said Stark.

Andrew, listening in on the conversation, asked, “What’s going on?”

“Tony is going to test out this new weapon for the military.” Rhodes told Andrew. “It’s called ‘Jericho’.”

“And you’re testing it out on the battlefields?” Andrew said. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“That’s what I’m tryin’ to tell him.” Rhodes said. “There are safety issues…”

“Come on,” said Stark. “Are you telling me that the army’s best can’t protect one guy? What’s that say about us?”

“It’s just that anything can happen.” Rhodey said.

Andrew gazed over at his team for a moment, as they were watching the roulette table intently. He then turned back to Rhodes and Stark and said, “I’ll have my Rangers out there with you as extra protection.”

“Are you sure you wanna do that, Andy?” Stark asked him. “One of your men just happens to be your son. You’d really want to put him in harm’s way like that?”

In his mind, Andrew did not want to take that chance. But seeing the way Mack had performed as a Power Ranger in recent months had convinced him that his son would be just fine. “I have confidence in all my Rangers, Tony. I’m certain they’ll bring you back home in one piece.”

Their attention was grabbed by the sudden lack of noise from the wheel. They looked back and saw that the ball had indeed stopped bouncing around and nestled into a spot. The spot was the number twelve; the color was red. The croupier tried not to let out a sigh of relief and utterly failed as he hauled forward Stark’s winnings for the evening.

There were moans from the others who had followed Stark’s lead and also lost their money. Tyzonn puzzlingly gazed upon them all, while the croupier handed him one hundred dollars. “Congratulations, sir.”

Tyzonn looked down at the money and said with great confusion, “Uh…thank you.”

Stark shrugged, signed a couple of autographs, and then turned away. His entourage fell into step behind him. As they walked, Andrew asked him, “How can you stand losing, Tony? As brilliant as you are, you should know better.”

“You’re probably right.” Tony said. “But the thing is…I found it all very exciting.”

“Which part? The winning or the losing?” Mack asked him.

“That’s the real question, isn’t it?”


END OF CHAPTER ONE

[DarkLight]

cool i like it

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Two


The Bagram Air Base in Parwan province was one of the more strategic points in Afghanistan. Most of the United States air activity went through Bagram, and this meeting with the army brass was no exception. An array of army officers were lined up to meet Stark once the plane had landed. They were all wearing “digis,” the nickname for the camouflage uniforms that had a digital array of gray squares on them. Stark trotted down the ramp looking fresh and ready to greet the day, unperturbed as his sunglasses shielded his eyes from the scorching Afghan sun.

As he greeted each of the officers by name, shaking their hands one by one, Rhodey and the Power Rangers appeared at the stairway. They watched Stark confidently and easily working the line of officers. He was all business, full of confidence. Considering that this was a man who had consumed large quantities of alcohol during the flight, it was incredible.

“At the rate he’s going, he won’t have to worry too much about protecting him.” Mack commented.

“I wonder if he’s just as invincible on the outside as he is on the inside.” Rose wondered aloud.

A military transport had already arrived at Bagram, and an assortment of weapons was being off-loaded from them. The most conspicuous were three missiles, each with the world “Jericho” prominently displayed on the side, and the Stark Industries logo just below them. All the weaponry was being escorted under heavy guard to a waiting convoy.

“Time for the dog and pony show,” Rhodey uttered, much to the confusion of Tyzonn.

“We’re going to be seeing dogs and ponies?”

Rhodey gawked at Tyzonn for a moment, raising an eyebrow, and then turned to Mack and the other Rangers. “Is this guy for real?”

“As much as you can imagine.” Mack said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moments later, the army generals were seated on folding chairs behind a safe zone of barricades and sand bags. Meanwhile, Afghan soldiers, Air Force security men, and the Power Rangers patrolled the perimeter. Obviously, no one was taking any chances; the last thing anyone needed was a group of insurgents launching a successful raid and taking out a bevy of America’s top brass in one shot…to say nothing of its top weapons manufacturer.

Stark was standing some distance away, firing an N.R.F. 425 machine gun. The generals watched, their faces impassive. They’d seen machine guns before. Granted, Stark produced as good a machine gun as anyone else did, but at the end of the day, that’s all it was. Stark knew that he had promised them something more impressive than standard-issue weaponry, and he also knew that they were waiting to see what he’d be presenting them. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be as much of a showman as possible while he was doing it.

Stark put the gun down next to an assortment of other weapons. Then he sauntered toward the generals, hands in his pockets, his voice adopting the cadences of a carnival barker. Behind him in the distance, a mountain range sat framed against a clear blue sky.

“The age-old question: Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?” He nodded toward the Jericho missiles, perched on their mobile launchers. “With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom line. It’s the first missile system to incorporate my proprietary Repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I prefer the weapon you only need to fire once. That’s how Dad did it. That’s how America does it. And it’s worked out pretty well so far.”

Rose stood close by the generals with the other Rangers. She was getting very much into Stark’s speech, finding much of what he was saying impressive and understanding most of the things that the other Rangers had trouble doing so.

One of the Jericho missiles roared into the sky with a thundering blast, fired from its mobile launcher. As the Jericho arched through the sky, Stark continued, “Find an excuse to fire off one of these and I personally guarantee the enemy is not gonna want to leave their caves.”

Then Stark waited patiently for the gasp.

The generals watched as the Jericho missile continued on its course…and suddenly it appeared to blow apart. For half a heartbeat it seemed as if the weapon had catastrophically malfunctioned. But then they realized what they were seeing, for the Jericho had not in fact blown apart. Instead, it had subdivided into a score of mini-missiles.

“Aw, cool!” Dax shouted with excitement.

They all gasped, right on cue. Stark permitted a small smile and raised his arms, displaying as much showmanship as possible. He then said, “For your consideration, the Jericho.”

An entire section of the majestic peaks behind him blew up. One minute there; the next, gone. They saw it before they heard it. When they did hear it, it was the astounding sound of twenty explosions all occurring at exactly the same time. And by the time that sound reached them, the shock wave had already come rolling across the vast expanse and enveloped Tony Stark. He never budged from where he was standing, even as a massive wave of dust washed over him. The generals and the Rangers dove behind the barriers for cover, but it didn’t do them any good. The dust and debris went everywhere, inescapable, covering them from head to toe.

Long moments passed until the rumble of noise and the sweeping cloud of dust subsided. As that happened, Stark loosened the knot of his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. As if blowing a mountain to bits was a casual feat that one saw every day, he brushed the dust from his suit as he said to the still-amazed group before him, “Now there’s one last creation I haven’t shown anyone yet. You might be interested.”

There was a large silver case set near the other weapons. Stark removed a small remote control from his jacket pocket, aimed it at the case, and tapped a button. The cover of the case flipped back. White vapor seeped out of the top, the type generated by a freezer unit. Stark tapped another button and a bottle of champagne slowly rose out of the unit on a small metal platform. Stark removed the champagne bottle and effortlessly popped the cork as the generals, the Afghan military officials, and the Rangers exchanged awkward glances. He poured himself a glass of champagne, raised it, and said, “To peace, gentlemen. And with every five hundred million dollars you spend, I’ll throw in a free one of these.”

Some time later, Stark, Rhodey, and the Rangers headed toward their respective Humvees. Eager to bring his CFO up to speed, he dialed up Obadiah Stane on his videophone. It rang for what seemed an unconscionably long time and finally Stane answered it, looking bleary eyed at Stark. He was bare-chested and the room behind him was dark.

“Hey, what are you doing up?” Stark said cheerfully.

“Sleeping.” Stane tried to stifle a yawn and failed. “How did it go?”

“I think we got an early Christmas coming.”

Stane nodded approvingly. “Sounds good.”

“Hey, why aren’t you wearing the pj’s I got you?”

“I don’t do monograms. I’m hanging up now. Bye-bye.”

He clicked off the videophone and looked around at the young bodyguards that Andrew Hartford sent with him. “All right, who wants to ride with me?”

“Oh! Oh! I do! I do!” Dax yelled, jumping up and down behind Ronny and Mack like a spoiled child—and he obviously wasn’t kidding around.

Before Dax could exhaust himself any further, Mack turned around and pinned him down, just by placing his hand on Dax’s shoulder roughly. He then turned back to Tony and said, “We’ll all be riding with you, Mr. Stark. My dad told me that it’s best if we were all by your side every step of the way.”

“With that type of attitude, you must be getting a raise in your allowance, young man.” Stark remarked.

As he prepared to climb into the nearest Humvee with them, he saw Rhodey approaching. “Sorry, Rhodey, no room for my conscience in here. Or that hangdog look.” His handy drink chest had also had a bottle of vodka tucked away in it, and he now raised a glass that was filled with it. “See you back at base.”

Rhodey shook his head and went off toward a different Humvee. Stark and the Rangers clambered into the back of the Humvee and slammed the door shut.

Moments later, during the ride, Stark found himself quickly becoming bored. The quiet atmosphere inside the Humvee didn’t help very much. And seeing as how he was sharing a car with a group of supermen, he would’ve expected to hear tons of stories of how they fought against monsters and aliens, saving the world each time one blows up behind them in spectacular, slow-motion fashion. Instead, all he heard was silence. Obviously none of them felt comfortable being close to such a popular, larger-than-life man like himself. He couldn’t really blame them, since they had never met him before.

He glanced out the window, hoping that there would be something to break up the monotony of the view. Nope. It was the same sort of rocky, arid vista that he had been witnessing steadily as they truck across the heart of Afghanistan, about two hundred miles northwest of Kabul.

“So,” Stark finally said, determined to do something to break up the tedium. “Show of hands: whose favorite color is something other than red, blue, black, yellow, pink, and silver?” No response, although each of the Rangers did allow the slightest signs of grins to tweak the edges of their mouths. “Oh, I get it. You guys aren’t allowed to talk any more than five sentences. Is that it? Are you not allowed to talk?” Now their grins were unstoppable, reaching from one side of their faces to the other.

“No, we’re allowed to talk, Mr. Stark,” said Mack. “We just can’t really think of much to say.”

“Well, first, you can call me Tony instead of ‘Mr. Stark’.” He remarked. “That just sounds too business-related, and I want us to be more personal, especially since your old man and I are such good friends.”

Mack nodded with a smile, glancing at the other Rangers, who had done just the same. “Alright. Awesome.”

“Yes. Awesome, indeed.” Stark said. “Now this is what progress is like when it’s made.” The Rangers were desperately trying not to laugh, while Stark remained relentless. “You kids want to hear a funny story?” In unison, the Rangers all responded positively. “Alright. Here it goes…one day, Andrew Hartford and I were double-dating. Best date I’ve ever been on, in which more than two people were involved. But Andrew blew it when he started talking about his latest inventions. Like any woman would be interested in something like that.”

“I would’ve.” Rose freely admitted.

“Well, there’s the difference, sweetheart.” Stark said. “You’re, what, twenty years younger than Hartford? If he were twenty-five, you two would be hotter than Will and Jada.”

Mack tried to suppress a chuckle long enough to ask, “So what happened after Dad blew it?”

“Well, he told himself that he would never be with a real woman, so he thought about doing it the old fashioned way…building one.” Stark said.

“Mr. Hartford was going to build himself a girlfriend?” Ronny responded with a chuckle.

“Unbelievable, isn’t it?” Stark said. “But you know what he finally decided on? Rather than building himself a wife, he decided on building himself a so…”

It was at that moment that Stark and the others heard an explosion…an actual explosion. It was impossible to determine just how close it was, but the Humvee rocked wildly. Everyone was shouting. Mack started giving orders, and suddenly Stark’s jaw dropped at what he saw through the windshield. They had not been the lone Humvee moving down the road; instead they had been part of a convoy. Now Stark saw the Humvee in front of them erupt in a ball of flame and flip over. It had been ripped apart by some sort of missile.

The Humvee in which Stark and the Rangers were riding slammed to a halt. Mack and the other Rangers scrambled out, not once going into their battle mode (with the helmets and colored outfits). Instead, they remained in civilian mode, still looking brave and skilled nevertheless. Before exiting, Mack turned to Stark and commanded, “Stay here!” He no longer seemed like just an average kid to Tony. He seemed more like a soldier than any other out there on the field.

Stark tried to figure out where the hell else he might possibly have gone, but he didn’t ask. Mack had vanished. Military soldiers were running this way and that. Stark felt as if he should be crouching on the floor of the Humvee. Instead he rolled the window partway down and peered out, trying to see what was happening. It was hard to determine who’s who.

A familiar figure sprinted by. It was United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. If there was anyone that Stark wanted to see in this particular situation, it was Rhodey. Square jawed, with no trace of fear in his eyes, and black skin made even darker since it’s smeared with charcoal. He was firing a 50-caliber machine gun. It was impossible for Stark to determine whether he was shooting at something in specific or just laying down suppressing fire or maybe simply shooting wherever he could and hoping to God he hit an enemy. He noticed Stark peering out of the window.

“Get down, Tony! Get the—!”

More explosions and smoke was billowing everywhere. Rhodey fired into the chaos, and Stark wondered how Rhodey could see what he was shooting at. He advanced into the smoke and murk, while Stark twisted around and looked out the back window. The other Humvee was there. That gave him some small measure of comfort, right up until another explosion annihilated it as well. The windows of Stark’s Humvee all blew in. Stark barely ducked in time, throwing his arms over his head, as glass and bits of metal ricochet around the contained space.

It was clear what was happening. One by one, they—whoever they were—were blowing up the vehicles. All the shouted advice to “stay put” paled next to the realization that his car was likely next. Staying put was no longer an option. So Stark shoved open the door and half stepped, half tumbled out of the car. He put his hands to his face and realized that he was bleeding. That was to be expected; with all the debris flying around the inside of the Humvee, injury was inevitable.

Once out of the car, Stark started to run. He had no destination in mind; all he knew was that he got to put some distance between himself and the site of this madness. Smoke was everywhere. He covered his mouth with his designer necktie, trying not to breathe in the smoke, fearing his lungs could collapse. Machine gun fire was all around. Tracers zipped past him. The ground erupted directly in front of him; if it had detonated even a second later, he would have been right in the middle of it and would be in a million pieces by now.

He shielded his eyes, trying to see Rhodey, the Rangers, or anybody else he might’ve recognized. He caught fleeting glimpses of running forms. Then he spotted an M16 rifle lying on the ground. There were small tufts of fire all around it. Stark ran up to it, kicking dirt on the flames to extinguish them so that he could get to the M16. He managed to do so and patted himself on the back for his cleverness, right up until he actually endeavored to pick the gun up. Then he let out a startled yelp and dropped the weapon, his fingers in pain. The gun had been red hot, it surface temperature increased near to the melting point thanks to the fires all around it.

Rhodey and Hartford had both tried to talk him out of coming here. Why the hell didn’t he listen? What in the name of God was he thinking…?

He found himself back near the Humvees. One was sitting there, smoldering, the interior blackened. He wondered if any of the occupants managed to get out. He wondered if any of them were still alive. He wondered if anyone besides him was still alive.

Stark was looking away from the Humvee when he heard something thunk off it. He turned and realized it was a rocket-propelled grenade—an RPG—ricocheted off the burned-out Humvee and fell practically at his feet. His eyes widened as he saw its pedigree stamped across the side: USM 11676 Stark Munitions.

Having designed the damned thing, Stark knew precisely what the blast range was. He knew the amount of time to detonate. He knew how close he was standing to it. And he realized, after doing much of the math in his head, that there was simply no way he was going to be able to get far enough away from it.

However, the grenade appeared to be nothing more than a dud. At last for a moment until it finally exploded. Stark was lifted off his feet by the power of the detonation. The barrage of fragments shredded his suit. He was wearing body armor beneath it, a precaution that he had considered ridiculous, but that had been insisted upon by military personnel. Now it appeared that it was going to save his life…

…or perhaps not.

He hit the ground, tried to get up, but couldn’t. He lied face down on the ground, his mouth filled with blood and dirt. His ears were ringing, making it almost impossible for him to hear anything. He thought he could hear distant voices shouting, and somewhere far away was the chatter of small-arms fire. The world began to fade out around him. He waited to see if his life was about to pass before his eyes. It didn’t. He was not certain if that was a good thing or not.

A word floated across his consciousness. Not a word, but a name: Pepper.

He had no idea why in the world that name would creep into his mind during what might well be the very last moment of his life, and before he could give it further consideration, the world fuzzed out around him.


END OF CHAPTER TWO

[CyberRanger86]

Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. :)

One important thing I meant to mention: the events of this story are based on the upcoming film (I'm using the novelization as a guide for creating new subplots and storylines), so if you want to keep yourself "Spoiler-Free", wait to read this after May 2nd. ;)

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Three

Spencer had never been more nervous in his entire life. He never was the one who wanted to deliver bad news at the most unfortunate times. Andrew Hartford had enough problems to deal with, while his Ranger team was away in a war-infested environment. To inform him of the danger that had occurred there only moments ago and the result of it all would not only crush his heart, but it would crush his conscience as well.

Nevertheless, he needed to tell him. Biting his lips and clenching his fists, Spencer walked directly into his office, just as he was working on some important blueprints. It was always the same whenever Spencer came in there. Mr. Hartford was always at his desk, looking over documents and never focusing on his surroundings. A bomb could drop outside near his home, and he would fail to have acknowledged what happened.

“Excuse me, sir.” Spencer started with a shaky voice.

Andrew’s head immediately shot up as soon as he addressed him, and he smiled. “Spencer!” he excitedly said. “I need your opinion on the new battle armor that I’m making for the Rangers. It’s an idea that came back to me after our meeting with Tony Stark last night. Check it out.” He got up from his desk and walked over to his butler with the schematics, anxious for an opinion. “Tell me what you think and be honest.”

Spencer let out a deep, sad sigh, which should have been Andrew’s first clue that something was wrong. Looking at the schematics did not help out much either, as they reminded him of the Rangers and their current situation. He had to admit that the armor looked magnificent. It was a reminiscent of their uniforms, only more metallic and impenetrable.

“They are indeed wonderful, sir.” Spencer said. “But I must tell you that…”

“They almost look like their Zords, only smaller and more agile.” Andrew added, while taking the blueprints out of Spencer’s hands. “They have everything the Zords do, only much, much more. They have shield capabilities to help them avoid heavy attacks, rockets to propel them to unlimited heights, and—to top it all off—gauntlets powered from the same Repulsor technology used by Tony and his company.”

Spencer tried to find the right moment to intervene in his explanation of the new designs. “Sir, I really believe you should listen to what I have to…”

“I hope Stark and the Rangers won’t be away in Afghanistan for too long. I really want to share these ideas with Tony and see if he can…”

“SIR!” He never once raised his voice to the man, and when he did, it came as a huge shock to Andrew.

Something was wrong. It was plainly obvious from the look on Spencer’s face, and it sent a shiver down Andrew’s spine. He took off the reading glasses that he had been wearing and gazed at his butler and close friend. “What’s wrong, Spencer?” he asked.

Taking a deep breath before saying anything, Spencer finally told him, “There was an attack shortly after the demonstration of the Jericho missile, sir.” Now he had Andrew’s full attention, as the first person to pop in his head the moment he heard the news was Mack. “Lots of soldiers were killed and…” Spencer tried his best to compose himself as he gave the dreadful news. “I’m afraid that…I…”

“Are the Rangers alright?”

“They didn’t specify…”

“Is Tony okay?”

“I didn’t ask if…”

“What about Mack?”

“Sir, I haven’t…”

“JUST TELL ME!!!”

“Sir! They didn’t give much information on the matter! For some reason, they are saying it is classified and cannot give many details.”

Andrew was quiet for a very long time. He didn’t know very much about the military or their reason behind certain things. But when it came to his own son and his team of Power Rangers, there were some things that he just could not let them keep secret from him.

Finally he said, “Get my private jet ready, Spencer. I’m going to Afghanistan.”

“Sir, I do not believe that is a wise choice.” Spencer said.

“I never gave them the list of dangers they could face while out there.” Andrew remarked. “They’ve never faced anything like that before.”

“I doubt that they are in as much danger as you believe, sir.” Spencer stated. “If they can face a tyrant like Flurious, they could’ve survived whatever or whomever it was that attacked them there.”

Andrew wanted to admit that he had a point, but he was thinking too heavily on Mack and the other Rangers to think rationally about his actions. He was always a man who had never thought twice about what he was going to do next. To Andrew Hartford, waiting around and doing nothing was no option. It was more important to do what you can now rather than wait tomorrow—otherwise there won’t be a tomorrow. That was the motto he had always led.

“You might be right, Spencer.” Andrew said, and the butler breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had finally gotten through the man. But he should have anticipated on what he said next to contradict that statement: “But they’re my team. And responsible would I be if my team were not to go and see if they were okay and in one piece.”

With that being said, Andrew dropped the schematics to the Rangers’ new armor on his desk and then departed from his office. Spencer watched him as he left, feeling more nervous than he had when he first walked in. Removing a handkerchief from his breast pocket, he wiped away beads of sweat that were coming out of his forehead. He just hated it when they drove his patience like that, making his job harder than it had to be. But, in a way, it impressed him knowing how strong they all were. He only prayed that in Andrew’s current case it wouldn’t cost him his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The attack ended in a way that seemed really perplexing to Ronny. One minute they were fighting with their unknown assaulters; the next, everything went totally dark. She thought that she might’ve blacked out from the fight, possibly hit over the head with the butt of someone’s gun. But it was actually the complete opposite. Someone had placed a black bag over Ronny’s head, blinding her from just about everything in sight…even their attackers.

She could hear Mack near her, demanding for them to be released and telling them repeatedly that he was the son of Andrew Hartford. Poor Mack, she thought. He doesn’t realize that these guys haven’t the slightest clue who his dad is. If she could, she would tell him that. But apparently, next to the bag, a gag had been placed over her mouth. She also felt her hands bounded together by ropes behind her back. They must’ve placed something much stronger on Mack, because of his awesome strength.

For hours and hours, she felt herself being carried and led away to somewhere, with hundreds of voices speaking out over them in Arabic. She wanted to be brave, but between all of the darkness and walking blindly she had to do, she had to have been more scared than Mack was. And if Mack wasn’t all that scared, she had to give him credit, because she was on the verge of tears.

Ronny only knew that they had been led into an interior area, once the heat of the sun had stopped bearing down upon her. The bag was not only slightly suffocating her, but it was also making her sweaty. She could feel the sweat dripping down her cheeks. It was somewhat relieving to have been brought into the shape, yet she still felt scared of her surroundings.

A few minutes later, Ronny was brought into a deathly quiet area with a small breeze passing through. Her hands were suddenly unbound, allowing herself to remove the bag from her head and the gag from her mouth. But by the time she could have gotten a good look at her kidnappers, they had closed the door leading into the room, sealing her inside.

“You won’t get away with…!” Ronny screamed for only a moment, before there was a sudden sound of gunfire from outside and a bullet ripped through the metal door, just an inch from her head. Ronny’s hand instantly went to her chest, relieved that she was not killed from the shot. She knew they were toying with her, giving her reason not to make them mad. So she kept silent long enough to hear a coughing sound from behind her. Turning her head, she saw Mack, taking off his bag and gag. “Mack! Are you alright?”

He was sitting on the ground, clutching his throat and fighting to bring some air to his lungs. All he could do for the moment was nod in response to Ronny’s question, as she helped him to his feet. They both got a good look around the room they were in. It was much more a cave rather than a room. A very dark, dank, and yet cool cave.

After successfully getting some air to his lungs, Mack finally said, “Where are we? What do they want with us?”

“I don’t know.” Ronny said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“We should morph and show them who they’re dealing with.” Mack suggested.

Ronny grinned. “Good idea!”

They both then quickly reached up toward their shoulders, hoping to have pulled their “Overdrive Trackers” from their respective cases. However, much to the shock of the two Rangers, their morphers were not there. Nothing else more than empty leather cases were there.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Ronny cried.

“These guys know us like the back of their hands!” Mack exclaimed, and he let out a desperate sigh, right before he thought of an alternate way out of their dilemma. “But I bet they never anticipated on my resequenced DNA.” He started to make his way towards the steel door, hoping to have used the genetic power of super strength granted from his father’s DNA resequencer invention to break down the door.

Before he could try, Ronny quickly intervened, remembering the recent incident that occurred when she tried to disobey their captors. “Mack! No! Don’t try it! They might fire from the other side!”

Mack looked back at the door, heeding Ronny’s warning. But thoughts of freedom filled his mind, and he was too heavily focused on getting himself and Ronny (or at least just Ronny) out rather than his own life. “Then I’ll just take my chance,” he said and then turned to Ronny. “Get back.”

“No, Mack!”

“Get back, Ronny!”

“NO!”

They were about to bicker some more, until the door suddenly opened and three men entered. Each of them had similar features: dark, harsh, and thick eyebrows, and the sorts of sneers that only bullies who had others in a weakened position could possess. One was a big man who spoke perfect English, which was evident as he addressed Mack and Ronny.

“You are the Power Rangers?” He asked, and Mack and Ronny looked to one another before turning to the man and nodding their heads. He smiled as he said, “You are not quite how I had imagined you to be. I was expecting superhuman beings. Instead, I see simple children.”

The two Rangers took this man’s comments as a direct insult to their profession. They wanted to make a witty comeback, but common sense and smarts took over before either of them could say anything. Instead, they just stood there, as this man who they could only assume was the ringleader of this bunch continued to address them.

“You,” he said, pointing to Mack. “You said your father is Andrew Hartford. The same Andrew Hartford who has come through this country once or twice, am I right?”

Mack slowly nodded. “That’s right.”

“I see.” The man said with a smile. “I wonder how much we could get for your ransom.”

Having enough of the man’s toying around with them, Ronny stepped forward and demandingly inquired, “What is it that you want?”

Surprisingly, the man did not react to her intervening in a negative way. Instead, he continued grinning as he explained. “I want your American friend, Tony Stark, to build me the Jericho missile he was demonstrating. If he succeeds within three months, I will set you all free.”

Neither Mack nor Ronny bothered asking what the consequences would be if Stark didn’t succeed, because they didn’t want to give this man the pleasure of telling them, and they also knew that they would all still be killed if he did get it done for them. Instead Mack asked this question: “Why are we involved in this? Why do you need us?”

The man stepped closer to them. First, he pointed to Ronny and asked, “Are you a mechanic?”

“Yeah, but why…”

Not giving her the time to go on, he interrupted by saying, “You will assist Tony Stark the moment he begins work on the missile.”

“But I only work on vehicles. I don’t know anything about…”

Again, the man interrupted. Only this time he had done so by pulling out a gun and aiming it at Mack. “Would you rather I kill your friend now?”

Ronny’s eyes widened with caution and fear. “No, no! I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Just…don’t hurt him.”

Immediately the gun was moved away from Mack, and the man smiled at him. “Which is why I am keeping you here, Hartford Jr. I need a conscience for the girl. All women have a voice of reason. Someone to keep them in line.” He motioned towards Ronny. “You are hers.”

Ronny did her best to refrain from strangling the man’s neck, in order to keep him from hurting Mack. She glared long and hard at him, but he failed to notice her stare. The man only kept his eyes on Mack as he walked out of the cave with the rest of his men.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Ronny let out her anger, “OH! I would so like to morph right now and kick that guy’s butt!”

“The feeling’s mutual.” Mack said. “But if we want to stay alive, we’ll have to do whatever he wants.” He let out another sigh as he added, “I only hope Mr. Stark is willing to do the same.”


END OF CHAPTER THREE

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Four

Two days and only four meals later, Mack and Ronny were let out of their holding area and led to the cave where Tony Stark and another man who neither of the two Rangers recognized were held. Evidently, Tony Stark had finally agreed to create the Jericho missile for their kidnappers. And the two Operation Overdrive Rangers were put into the position to assist them.

When they were led out, Ronny and Mack were introduced to a completely different man—one of the flunkies of the group. His name was Abu, and he came while flanked by his lieutenants. Not saying a word the entire time they trekked to Stark’s cave, Abu gave an awkward aura towards Mack and Ronny, who were only glad to have seen Tony Stark alive and well. They were, however, surprised to see the condition of his chest. There was a depression in it, a vicious wound, and some sort of round device had been implanted into it.

Whoa, Mack thought for a moment. He barely survived the attack.

Poor guy, Ronny also thought.

Mack attempted to ask how Stark was doing at that moment, but Stark robbed him of the opportunity before he could even open his mouth. “Okay, here’s what I need,” said Stark, addressing Abu and his men. The man sharing the cave with Stark translated quickly—neither Mack nor Ronny knew at the time if he was a friend or a foe.

Tony gave a list of items that sounded very alien to Mack and Ronny. If Tyzonn were there, even he would be completely lost. Abu’s men were already in motion, as Stark requested for the work area to be free of clutter with good light and a workbench to be positioned at twelve o’clock to the door to avoid logjams. He then requested things that Ronny was more familiar with than Mack, such as welding gear: acetylene or propane, helmets, a soldering set-up with goggles, and smelting cups.

Mack and Ronny slightly glanced in Abu’s direction, noting the exasperation on his face. One of his men had pulled out a notebook and was scribbling as fast as he could. But Stark did not slow down. “Finally, I want three pairs of tube socks, white, a toothbrush, protein powder, spices, sugar, five pounds of tea, cards.” Before Abu could question him, Stark added the final insanity: “And a washing machine. Top load.”

“Did he say ‘washing machine’?” Ronny asked Mack, who just shrugged his shoulders and nodded, wondering if these monsters had been feeding Tony right since their capture.

Abu snarled in disgust and then headed out the door, without wanting his men to flank him as he usually did. They hurried out after him, the door slamming shut. Mack stared at Tony, clearly not knowing what to make of what had just happened. Finally he asked Stark, “Are you alright, Mr. Stark?”

Tony grinned. “What did I say about that ‘Mr. Stark’ stuff, kid?” He spoke very softly, touching the area of his chest, which Ronny couldn’t stop taking her eyes off of.

“What have they done to you?” She asked him. “That…That isn’t a bomb, is it?” She asked that last question with a look of shock on her face, as her brown eyes nearly bulged out.

“Relax, relax.” Tony said, before motioning to the man standing next to him. “This is Yinsen. He saved my life by implanting this device in my chest. It’s anchoring a magnetic suspension system that’s holding some shrapnel in place…at least for now.”

Mack and Ronny exchanged cautious glances, shaking their heads. “We have to get you to a doctor,” Mack said.

“Right now, Yinsen is my best and only doctor.” Stark said, before taking a deep breath. “I should be dead already. But I’m not, and I have to think that the fact that I’m not…I have to think it’s for a reason.”

“I seriously doubt if that reason is building these animals a missile.” Ronny contradicted. “We need a plan. We have to find a way to…” Before she could say much more, Yinsen immediately shushed her and pointed to something glinting against the cave wall: the lens of a camera, focused straight on them.

Mack sighed after noticing the camera. “So much for making an escape plan, without being suspected.”

“I have a plan.” Stark said. “But it’s not one of escape.” Ronny and Mack shot him a couple of puzzled looks before he explained himself. “You kids are going to have to trust me on two things: 1) things are going to be alright, and 2) we’re not going to make it out of here alive.”

The Rangers wondered exactly how contradictive Stark made himself sound just now. They wanted to bother asking some more questions, but they didn’t have the time to ask nor did Stark have the time to explain himself any further. Instead, they got to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stark wasted no time getting his lab in working order. He pulled open the housing of an S-category missile and within minutes the missile’s innards were exposed. Then Ronny stepped in and, while being instructed by Stark, extracted a glass ring, using a pair of needle-nose pliers. She placed it delicately upon the workspace and then set it aside.

Meanwhile, Mack and Yinsen pulled open one of the M-229 crates and removed the chip-rack cylinder from one of the larger warheads, under the watchful eye of Tony Stark. After a while, Mack seemed to be the only one handling all of the heavy lifting of the chip-rack, using his super strength.

“How does a boy your stance get so strong?” Yinsen asked Mack.

Mack smiled as he answered, “Awesome genes.” As soon after he set the chip-rack on the workbench, Ronny went to work on it and, minutes later, removed a tiny palladium strip.

Stark took the strip from her and said, “This is what we’re looking for. We’ll need eleven of these.”

“Eleven?” The others remarked with surprise.

They didn’t pretend to understand, but that didn’t slow them. Over the next hour, they all extracted the palladium strips from the other chip-rack cylinders. While Stark set the palladium into a crucible, the others stood near the furnace. Being so close to it, Ronny and Mack felt the need to take off their jackets, leaving only their black undershirts on.

Finally, Stark brought the palladium over to the others and instructed, “Heat them to 1825 Kelvin. You’ll know when it reaches as it starts to melt.” And while they attended to just that, Stark didn’t slow in his efforts. Over the past days, his life had seemed a long, bleak tunnel of nothingness. Now his life was broken down into a series of tasks: he was wrapping a copper coil around the glass ring.

He was dropping palladium strips into a crucible on the fire. He was sculpting a sand mold for the palladium ring. After a while, Yinsen and the Rangers brought the crucible of melted palladium to Stark. The individual strips had melted together into a single ring. Stark allowed time for it to cool and, once he was satisfied it was ready, he lifted the ring out of the mold with a pair of tweezers.

Finally, Ronny’s curiosity got the best of her and she asked, “What are we building here?”

“Something big.” Stark smiled. “A better mousetrap.”

Moments later, Mack was plugging a cable into a generator and threw its switch. The lights in the cave flickered, went out completely, and then came back on, but at a much lower output than before. The device over which they had been laboring all this time lay upon the workbench. It was round, about two inches in depth and the width of Stark’s palm. It softly glowed to life on the workbench.

Stark monitored the cable that was jacked into it, holding his hand over it to make certain that no heat was radiating from it. The last thing he needed was for it to overheat. Watching the gauges, he finally nodded in approval. He motioned for Mack to shut down the generator, right before he detached the device from the wires.

“That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile.” Mack said.

“That’s because it’s an Arc reactor,” Stark told him. “A miniature version of a much larger generator first developed by Stark tech—” He stopped and smiled to himself. He was automatically slipping into the showman mode that he employed when addressing the army brass. His voice became softer as he continued; “It should suspend the shrapnel in my chest and keep it from entering my heart.”

“What an original invention.” Yinsen commented.

“This one is going to last a bit longer than a week.” Stark added.

“How much can it generate?” Yinsen asked.

“Three gigajoules,” Stark paused and then added with satisfaction, “per second.”

Neither Mack nor Ronny knew much about units of power, except for when they were using their Megazords. But from the impressed look on Yinsen’s face after Stark uttered the amount, it had to have been a large quantity of energy for a small device. “That’s…three thousand megawatts,” said Yinsen. “You can’t be serious. That’s the equivalent of…of an entire power station. Or Hoover Dam. That’s on par with the maximum output of the world’s largest nuclear generator.”

“Are you guys saying that this new invention could run his heart for an infinity?” Mack inquired.

“More like fifty lifetimes.” Yinsen remarked.

“Or something very big for fifteen minutes.” Stark stated.

“The output you’re discussing could power a small city for a lot longer than fifteen minutes. How big are you talking about?” Yinsen asked.

Mack and Ronny exchanged a long look. For the first time, they seemed as if they were beginning to understand exactly what Stark had in mind. “Whatever it is you’re planning on putting together, Mr. Star…I mean, Tony…we’re with you all the way,” Mack said.

“Then let’s put it in,” Tony said with a confident grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later, the bloody chest plate that had once been implanted in Stark’s chest—the only thing that had kept him going—lay in the corner, gathering dust. Several smaller components had been stripped from it to be used in other applications; otherwise, it was tossed aside.

While Ronny and Mack often took a break, seeking rest on the nearest wheelbarrow or cot, Stark was in full force with his work. He was in the midst of cutting metal flat stock with a torch. The room was littered with what he had described as “missile components” to their captors when they had entered the cave. Tony’s shirt was hanging open, and the glowing device was visible implanted in his chest.

At one point in his work, the familiar sound of the door slat thumped, signaling for everyone to look as if they were working hard. Quickly, Yinsen woke up Mack and Ronny, alerting them of the arrival of their captors. The two Rangers got to their feet and stood near Stark’s side, where they felt comfortable the most, and watched as Abu yanked open the door without waiting for them to do as was expected of them. Clearly, he was in an even fouler mood than he typically was.

More men came pouring in behind Abu, and some of them Tony and the Rangers failed to have recognized. But then one individual came in whom Tony had seen from a distance and Ronny & Mack have seen up close, all those weeks ago. Tony and the Rangers made a silent agreement to refer to this man as “The Boss Man,” because of how apprehensive the other men looked when he was around. Seeing him reminded Ronny of the way he insulted her, and she did her best to refrain from expressing that anger or even feeling the need to lunge out at him. She just stood there and raised her hands along with Tony, Mack, and Yinsen, as the men stomped into their cell.

The Boss Man gestured for them to lower them, and slowly they did so. He meandered about the lab, picking things up and putting them down. They couldn’t determine whether he was genuinely inspecting and understanding what he was looking at, or was just picking everything up and putting it back down so that he appeared to comprehend the purpose of it all.

During the inspection, the washing machine caught the Boss Man’s eye. He looked it over slowly, with growing disbelief. Finally he switched his gaze to Abu and stared at him, obviously looking for some sort of explanation. Then he turned to the workbench, where Stark’s schematics of the missile lay spread across. He studied them with what might have only been vague interest…or perhaps something more.

“The bow and arrow was once the pinnacle of weapons technology,” he said. “It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. Today, whoever has the latest Stark weapons rules these lands…and soon it will be my turn.”

Then he glanced back and forth between the four people before him. Something in his voice seemed to indicate that he knew Stark was trying to pull a fast one. He said something in Arabic to Yinsen, sounding very soft and very dangerous.

“Nothing,” Yinsen quickly said. “Nothing is ‘really going on here.’ We’re working.” The Boss Man spoke again. It was obvious to Stark, Ronny, and Mack that Yinsen kept responding in English for their benefit, keeping them apprised of exactly what was being said and what sort of threat they were facing. “We are working very hard. Evidence of that is the weapon you see here. It’s very complex.”

The Boss Man snapped something at Abu while gesturing toward Yinsen, who paled as Abu and another man stepped forward, grabbing Yinsen by the shoulders and forcing him to his knees. As they had done so, the Boss Man used a pair of tongs to extract a single hot coal from the furnace. It glowed threateningly in the dimness of the room.

Mack and Ronny motioned slightly, seeming to attempt a move, as they figured out right away what this man was attempting. But they kept themselves composed after seeing a few men aim their weapons at them.

The Boss Man strolled toward Yinsen, keeping the coal out in front of him. This time he spoke in English, obviously for the benefit of the Americans near them. “Tell me what is going on?”

“Nothing! Nothing is going on!” Yinsen exclaimed.

“Open his mouth.” The Boss Man ordered his men, and two of them gripped Yinsen’s face and forced his mouth open. The coal came closer to Yinsen’s open mouth. “Tell me now!”

Stark, Mack, and Ronny braced themselves for Yinsen to either spill everything he knew or let out a bloodcurdling shriek. Instead, in a pitiful but last-ditch effort to convince them, Yinsen yelled, “THEY’RE BUILDING YOUR BOMB!”

The Boss Man stared as if he were studying the words, considering them cautiously. Then he dropped the coal on the floor in front of Yinsen. It bounced away, cooling as it rolled. Ronny and Mack watched it do so, as if it were an explosive device that proved to be a dud, while Yinsen was released.

Seconds later they had exited, the door slamming shut behind them. Stark, Ronny, and Mack quickly went to Yinsen, who was still on his knees. “Who is that guy?” Ronny asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

“Raza. A tribal warlord. They answer to him.”

Mack nodded in understanding but focused more on Yinsen’s status. “Are you okay?” Yinsen looked at him in a way that indicated that was quite possibly the dumbest thing he could possibly have asked.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep your secrets.” Yinsen said. “Tell me what it is that you’re really building?”

This time Stark didn’t hesitate. He walked over to the light board and flicked it on, and then he lifted it up. It was a simple hiding place, so obvious that no one had tumbled to it. From under the board he pulled out a cluster of schematics and started laying them out on the board, keeping his body between himself and the ever-present camera to make certain they had no clear view of what he was doing. He gestured for the others to come and take a look. They had done so, and their eyes widened in wonderment.

“Oh, man.” Ronny uttered. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Not even our Zords have that much awesomeness to them.” Mack stated.

“Well, I wouldn’t say what I have here is just as awesome as a Zord,” Tony remarked, “but I can promise that it might just give us hope.”

Yinsen whistled softly and then said approvingly, “Again, Stark…very original idea.”

“Unless you count ancient knights.”

“I think the bravest of those knights would have taken one look at this walking toward them and fled the battlefield. Let us hope that Abu and his men have at least that much wisdom.”

Stark’s eyes were cold. “Honestly,” he said, “Part of me is hoping they don’t.” Hearing this, Ronny and Mack exchanged careful glances, wondering if Tony Stark was still the same man that they were introduced to weeks ago. If not, then they had some hard time lying ahead of them.


END OF CHAPTER FOUR

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Five

Days and weeks passed on, and there was no question in Raza’s mind that Stark and the Rangers were going to meet the deadline. His study of Americans had been detailed and thorough. And these particular ones lasted longer than most, probably due to the influence of Yinsen. Raza knew that he should have disposed of Yinsen so that Stark and the Rangers would break much faster. But Yinsen had been a necessary evil just in case Stark’s medical situation took a downward turn.

Morning had come and Raza strode into his control room, annoyed that the fans seemed to be operating at far below their normal capacity. He wiped his sweating brow with a towel, determined to find out what was causing this unacceptable dip in the power output. He shifted his attention to the monitor. Khalid, one of his more trusted lieutenants, was watching them closely, paying particular attention to Stark, Yinsen, and the two Power Rangers.

Yinsen and the Rangers were visible, working with intensity on the jig, which was the part of the metalworking machine that held an object in place. But Raza couldn’t see what the object was from a certain angle, although sparks were flying everywhere. Yinsen, Ronny, and Mack were smeared with dirt while perspiration seeped down, leaving little tracks in the filth.

Even more troubling was the fact that Raza could not see Tony Stark anywhere at all. The only area he could have been that was out of frame was under the camera, which meant he was planning something or up on the metalworking table. But that made no sense at all. Why in the world would Stark be on the metalworking table?

“Khalid. Where is Stark?” Raza asked, and Khalid shook his head. “Well? Go look!” His lieutenant nodded and jumped up from behind the monitor. He called to his men, and they quickly followed him out the door, guns cocked and ready for use. Raza slid into the place Khalid vacated, watching him closely on the monitor as he arrived at the door, slid aside the slat and peeked inside.

“Yinsen!” he called through the slat. “Yinsen!”

Raza’s gaze shifted to Yinsen and the Rangers. They were ignoring Khalid’s shouts, or perhaps they simply couldn’t hear them over the racket they were making at the metalworking table. Khalid nodded to his men who moved forward, weapons primed lest Yinsen, Ronny, or Mack were preparing some sort of trick or trap. Khalid unbolted the door and tried to push it open, but nothing happened.

Raza got to his feet, absolutely certain at this point that something was wrong. The door might be jammed because their prisoners had jammed it. He suddenly knew what Khalid should’ve done: back up, roll a grenade to the door, and blow it open from a distance. He grabbed his radio, snapped it on, and tried to raise Khalid on it.

Khalid had clearly not engaged the same thought process as had Raza. Instead, he selected the most obvious means of dealing with it: he slammed into it with his shoulder. As he did it, the final irony was that the motion was accompanied by Khalid’s glancing down at the walkie-talkie he had on his hip. It had just beeped at him to inform him of what Raza was trying to get through. And then…Khalid vanished.

Raza noticed the result before he heard it: a massive explosion. Seconds after the visual on the monitor filled with smoke and debris that completely wiped out anything he could make out (including whether Khalid and his men had survived the impact), a thunderous detonation roared up the halls of the cave hideaway.

It took Raza seconds to rein in his lieutenants, and he finally was only able to grab control of the situation by shooting one of his junior officers in the knee, thus guaranteeing their instant attention. Once he had done that, even more time was eaten up as word had gotten around the compound that they were under attack not from without but from within.

The entire time Raza kept scanning the monitors, looking for some sign of the prisoners attempting to flee. There was none. They were still hiding in their lab, pinning themselves down. That was a mistake, and one that Raza would make them pay for immediately and with finality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bomb that Tony Stark created worked exactly as they had expected it to. The second that Raza’s men had activated it when they had attempted to storm the room, it had exploded just as designed. Stark didn’t know how much time it was going to buy them, but he had to hope and pray it was going to be enough.

Ronny momentarily glanced at the door, while she and Mack worked together in sealing Tony into a bulky chest piece. “I hope none of those guys had our morphers. I want to get them back, so I can show these jerks some real payback.” She said, surprising Mack a little of how vicious she sounded.

She never was the type to lose, he thought.

Meanwhile, Yinsen’s attention was focused on a crusty-looking laptop computer, which was attached to the armature that Tony Stark’s body was encased in. What he created was going to be too heavy for sheer human muscle power to manipulate. Without the help of servos or mechanisms that would respond to the small, round sensor patches taped to his body, he wouldn’t be able to budge the contraption. He plugged the entire setup into the small Arc reactor that was protecting his heart.

Yinsen suddenly pointed to the laptop and exclaimed, “The systems aren’t talking to each other! Reset!”

Stark knew that resetting was not an option. However much time they had before they were under full assault, it certainly wasn’t sufficient to accommodate rebooting the whole system. He looked at the screen, studying the program bars, and was relieved to see that Yinsen was wrong. “No, they’re moving. Very slowly.”

“Can’t they go any faster?” Mack asked.

“Hey, we’re talking about turning my whole nervous system into a byte torrent of information.” Tony told him. “We’re lucky it’s even moving at all.”

“Well, if it doesn’t hurry up soon, it’s going to be our butts!” Ronny exclaimed, while continuing to nervously glance towards the door.

Seconds dissolved into minutes, ticking by. The bars continued to creep upward with maddening slowness. In the distance, they heard confused shouting. It had been that confusion that they’d been counting on to give them the time they needed. But time was running out, which was evident by the fact that the shouts were no longer sounding confused. Instead, they sounded like orders being tossed around, and the stampeding of feet, undoubtedly heading in the direction of the lab.

Immediately Mack told Stark, “We’re not leaving your side, Tony.”

“You’re gonna have to, kid,” Stark contradicted, “If you still want to have a chance to live after this is over.”

“Mack’s right, Tony.” Ronny said. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re staying here to do what we do best: fight.”

“My dad sent us here to protect you, and that’s what we’re going to do, with or without some heavy armor.” Mack stated.

Tony looked at them long and hard, seeing the determination on their faces. Right away he could tell there was no talking them out of this, so he didn’t bother going any further on the topic. “Fine,” was all Tony said before turning to Yinsen and saying, “Get to cover. Remember the checkpoints—make sure each one is clear before you follow us out.”

“That is a good plan,” said Yinsen as he watched the bar. Then in a low voice, he added, “But it will not be good enough.”

With that comment, and without a look back, Yinsen bolted from the lab. Ronny and Mack exchanged alarmed expressions, wondering just what Yinsen was attempting as Stark began shouting his name.

Yinsen ignored Tony’s shouting, realizing that there was no point in responding because he had been watching the speed with which the bars had been loading, had projected how much more time would be required, and had determined that what time remained to them would not be sufficient. So he would buy the time, utilizing the only currency he had available to him.

He slowed only to pick up a weapon from the dead fingers of one of Raza’s men…Khalid. The weapon was in superb shape. One had to credit American ingenuity where one could.

Yinsen was free—it was the first time he had been so in what seemed an eternity. And he would not waste it. But he would not stoop to their level. No matter what it took, he would make clear to them that he was not the same as they.

There was a large pair of double doors in front of him, extra security doors. They were hanging open; meaning that Khalid and his men had obviously come through them. He stepped through himself, slammed them shut, and bolted them. He wished that the lock were on the inside; he could seal himself in and ride out the storm. But it was on the outside. Instead, it would seal Stark and the two Power Rangers in and only slow Raza’s men for seconds. With every second counting, no gesture was too small.

He kept going, rounded a corner and found himself face to face with Raza’s men. He opened fire, shooting over them rather than at them, screaming and shouting. They outnumbered him three to one, but they were cowards to the core. Because of that simple fact, they turned and ran, startled and caught off-guard by his unexpected assault upon them.

As he entered the outer cavern, he had no idea there was that much anger still in him. He continued to scream, shout, buying the others some time, scaring his enemies, assuaging his soul over the indignities he had been forced to endure.

All of the sudden, a dozen guns were pointing straight at him. Pitiless, merciless eyes, like those of sharks, were glaring at him. He could have fired, seeing how there was just enough time to take out at least a couple of them before the onslaught began. But he didn’t.

He lowered his gun and closed his eyes. The first of the bullets thudded into him and did not hurt nearly as much as he would have thought. It is as if someone had just punched him in the heart. Then he left his feet, propelled backward by the impact of more rounds striking him. He never felt himself hit the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mack and Ronny felt as if one of them should’ve chased after Yinsen to see what he was up to, but neither of them wanted to leave Tony’s side. Tony wanted to do the same time, but it was impossible: No matter what, he was now literally locked into the current plan. Any attempt to disengage himself from the worktable wound end in failure because he was counting on the computer to finish downloading the information. He couldn’t move before it was done; the device in which he was now contained was simply too heavy.

“Why did he just run off like that?” Mack wondered aloud.

“He’s doing it for his family.” Stark uttered. “These monsters killed them, and he’s avenging them the best way he could think up.”

Mack and Ronny nodded in understanding just before they all heard muffled bursts of gunfire from a single weapon. Those sounds were enough to enable them to picture in their minds exactly what was going on. They marveled at Yinsen’s sheer determination and guts.

Suddenly Yinsen wasn’t shouting anymore. Everything had become very quiet. Frantic with fear, Ronny’s eyes flashed to the computer screens, just in time to see how the computer bars had finished their cycle. “It’s on line!” she cheered with glee.

Stark rose inelegantly from the table like a latter-day Frankenstein’s monster. He wasn’t thinking about the parallels or about any sense of accomplishment over what he was doing. All he was thinking about was getting to Yinsen in time.

Ronny and Mack were just the same, although they did take a moment to stare in awe over the way Stark had just raised on the workbench with such marvelous ease. He looked almost like an ancient Power Ranger with the armor on—a far but close comparison to how they looked while in their battle form.

“Come on! Let’s go kick some butt!” His voice vibrated, sounding distorted courtesy of all the electrical equipment within.

“We’ll keep behind you long enough to find our morphers.” Mack said. “When we do, we’ll be able to fight on our own.”

They then heard the chatter of a large number of guns. The burst was quick, brutal, and final. They even imagined that they could hear a body fall, although it was too far away for them to have been able to detect it.

Ronny’s head lowered, and she felt her heart break. “Yinsen.”

Mack’s hands went limp for only a second before they suddenly clenched together and tighten firmly to coincide with his rising anger. He looked at both Ronny and Tony, who shared his determination of revenge. “We’re going to do this...in his honor!”


END OF CHAPTER FIVE

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Six

Abu and another man charged down a corridor toward the lab. They were backed up by two of Raza’s men, and they were confident that no matter what tricks the foolish Americans had cooked up, they weren’t going to do them a damned bit of good. Certainly they hadn’t done a thing to protect the old man, Yinsen.

They approached the security door that guarded the main entranceway down to the lab, which was closed. The old man must have shut it behind him as he had made his short-lived escape attempt. Abu strode forward confidently, reaching for the lock. But when his hand was inches away from the door, something slammed into the portal from the other side. Something big…something heavy…something capable of leaving a massive dent in an armored door.

Startled, Abu stumbled backward and would have fallen if his companion hadn’t caught him. “What the hell…?” muttered one of Raza’s men.

The door bucked again as the same mysterious object on the other side slammed into it. There was another outward bulge, this one even bigger than the first. The sound of the impact echoed around them, and now all four men were backing up, with their guns leveled. Abu’s pulse was pounding against his head, having no idea what was going on.

A third smash, and a fourth, and the two armored doors began to buckle off their hinges. Abu’s radio crackled. “What’s going on down there?” came Raza’s confused voice.

Accompanied by one final crashing noise, the doors practically exploded off their hinges. Something glowing drifted through the air at them. In the dimness of the cave, it seemed like a floating disk, a miniature sun coming at them. Then Abu realized that it wasn’t merely flying along on its own. It was instead part of something bigger…much larger.

It stepped forward out of the darkness, and Abu and the others were able to see it clearly for the first time. Initially, just for an instant, Abu thought it was some kind of tank. It was dull gray, metal glinting in the limited light that the small fixtures mounted in the wall provided.

But then Abu realized that it had arms and legs, meaning that it was a man covered from head to foot in armor…a man made of iron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ronny and Mack hid close behind Tony Stark, as he strode forward, completely secured inside his armor. Stark went straight for Abu, who backed up, shooting. Inwardly, Stark braced himself, knowing that the armor should be able to withstand just about anything they were going to throw at him—certainly bullets shouldn’t present any difficulty—but knowing it was very different from staring down the barrel of a machine gun that was firing at you point-blank.

Neither he nor the two Rangers behind him had to worry, because the bullets ricocheted off him as if he were being pelted with water droplets. While this was happening, Mack briefly looked over Tony’s broad, metallic shoulder and spotted his and Ronny’s Trackers on the waists of the men that accompanied Abu.

“They have our Trackers!” Mack told Ronny.

“Then let’s try and get them!” Ronny remarked.

Something whizzed past Mack’s ear, and he could only assume that it was one of the bullets ricocheting off Tony. “No! Not now! Wait until they stop shooting!”

“Or at least Tony makes them stop.” Ronny added.

Stark advanced on Abu, grabbed the machine gun from his hands, and broke it in half. Even in the dimness of the hallway, he saw all the blood drain from Abu’s face. He reached for Abu and, had he managed to grab his skull, would have closed his fist and crushed it between his fingers.

His armor allowed him to do many things, but moving quickly was not among them. Abu darted back, out of range. Then the others closed in, firing as fast as they could, as hard as they could. Stark reeled under the collective impact, and Mack did his best to keep him leveled by pushing him forward. The armor was handling the bullets, but the sustained fire was beginning to take its toll. Stark perceived small dents beginning to appear, and he started to worry that the seams might not be able to withstand the stress.

He looked back towards Mack and said, “Try to keep me on my feet, kid!”

Mack nodded, pushing Stark slightly to keep him moving forward. The men were backing up, and one was just a hair slow, allowing himself to get within reach. Stark grabbed him and swung him around, sending him crashing into the other two. They went down, dropping both their weapons and the Rangers’ Trackers. While Mack and Ronny stepped out from behind Tony and went to pick up their Trackers, Stark methodically stepped on the guns, crushing them beneath his armored boot.

Stark looked around, trying to spot Abu. “No sign of the one that got away. What a chicken $@%!”

“Never mind about him.” Mack said. “Let’s try to get out of here.” He then faced Ronny, holding his Tracker up in the air, and asked, “Ready?”

“Ready!” Ronny exclaimed.

And together they cried, “Overdrive Acceler—!”

Suddenly, from just head of them, tracer bullets whizzed through the air, interrupting the Rangers’ attempt at morphing. It was as if a swarm of fireflies had invaded the corridor. Again, Ronny and Mack hid behind Tony, whose armor had been pinged off by the bullets. He kept moving, catching glimpses of the stunned insurgents ahead of him as they backed up in the face of this iron monstrosity.

“These guys don’t know when to quit, do they?” Ronny uttered.

Stark passed a cross corridor and something thudded against his head. A single bullet, and then they heard something hit the ground. Ronny and Mack turned to see Abu, lying dead on the ground next to them. There was a bullet hole squarely in the middle of his head.

Tony, whose peripheral vision was for crap, was forced to ask them, “What happened?”

Ronny and Mack exchanged surprised glances and said in unison, “You got one!” They looked back at the body, realizing what happened: the idiot tried to ambush them by coming in from the side and firing at point-blank range. The bullet had instead ricocheted off the helmet and drilled its way right through Abu’s skull.

The insurgents, having had their first glimpse of the iron man, were clearly trying to screw their courage to the sticking place and mount a concerted assault. Stark didn’t slow down. In fact, he picked up speed, gaining confidence in his construct with every step. He tossed aside attackers like poker chips, sending them crashing into walls, ceilings, and one another.

At this rate, there’s no need to morph at all, Mack thought, as he and Ronny witnessed the outstanding feat of strength that Stark had shown in the armor.

They rounded a corner and stopped dead in their tracks.

“Oh, no.” Ronny said.

Yinsen was lying on the ground, which had turned red beneath him. He was face up and, until they were standing right over him, Stark and the Rangers were convinced that Yinsen was already dead. It seemed impossible that anyone could sustain that much damage and still be hanging on.

His murderers were nowhere to be seen. Either they had engaged in the futile assault on Stark and the Rangers, or else they had fled outright upon hearing what was coming their way.

They began to move toward Yinsen, and then—to their utter shock—Yinsen spoke, “Stop! Stop!”

Stark and the Rangers didn’t understand how Yinsen could still be alive or why they would stop, but nevertheless they did as they were bidden. Then they were rocked back on their heels as an RPG streaked from a cross corridor and rocketed through the air directly in front of them. It exploded against the wall, causing not only a section of the wall to collapse but a chunk of the ceiling to crumble as well. Has the missile impacted with Stark’s armor, it might well have been more than the already battered suit could endure.

They turned and glared down the corridor, where Raza was, wearing a flak jacket and reloading the rocket launcher as quickly as he could. Other insurgents were pouring into the tunnel behind Raza, shouting encouragement.

Stark brought his arms up and twin plumes of flame ripped out from them. Seeing the flames coming his way, Raza acted entirely on instinct: he dropped the launcher, grabbed the nearest of his men, and thrust him directly between himself and the oncoming flame. The man screamed, transformed from a living being to an instant funeral pyre. He staggered, waving his arms like a burning piñata, and collapsed.

What a coward move to make, Ronny thought, before realizing how much all of these men were murderous cowards.

Raza and the rest of his men beat a hasty retreat while Stark continued to purge the tunnel with flame, an armored exterminator cleaning out a fat infestation. Meanwhile, Ronny and Mack went back to Yinsen and knelt down close to him.

“Hold on, Yinsen.” Ronny said. “We’re going to get you help.”

The dying man shook his head negatively. He looked as if he thought he was focusing on the Rangers, even though he was actually looking two feet to his left. “I am going to see them again. They’re waiting for me.”

Ronny felt tears beginning to come out from her eyes. She realized that as Yinsen stared into nothingness, it wasn’t that he couldn’t see where they were standing. Instead, he was looking at someone else—someone whom only he could see, beckoning to him, welcoming him with open arms and a smiling face.

“I’m sure they’re certainly proud of what you’ve done today.” Ronny said.

At that moment, Stark appeared behind them, looking down at Yinsen’s dying body. With tremendous effort, Yinsen lifted his hand and placed it atop Stark’s gauntlet. “This was always the plan. My life ends here…and your life begins here. It begins…by finishing what we started. Finish it…”

“I will.” Tony said. “I swear to you, I will.”

Yinsen smiled and then, just like that, he was gone.

They stood there for a moment, all trembling with fury. Ronny and Mack most of all were filled with rage, as they both stood up on their feet, with their Trackers still in hand. Mack looked down at his, recalling the amount of time he had spent without it…without all of his magnificent power at his disposal. But now that he had it back, it was time to show Raza and his men what Power Rangers were all about.

Mack suddenly stood in a battle stance, signaling to Ronny that it was time for them to morph. Ronny made her stance and followed Mack’s lead, as the both of them yelled, “OVERDRIVE ACCELERATE!”

Stark watched with great interest, as two colorful flashes of light (one red, one yellow) shined where Mack and Ronny stood before his very eyes. Within a short moment, the two youths were suddenly replaced by uniformed figures wearing identical helmets, gloves, boots, utility belts, and spandex. The only difference between them was the fact that one was red and the other was yellow with a skirt on to distinguish her gender.

It was the first time Tony had ever seen them morph up close, and was it ever impressive. Mack (the Red Ranger) turned in his direction and said in a powerful voice, “Let’s get out of here!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raza and his men had fallen back outside the caves. He’d lost the rocket launcher, but his men were still well armed and determined to stop the armored man who was moving through them with two Power Rangers. There was no question in Raza’s mind that it was Stark inside the suit. There was no one else it could possibly be. His fury over having underestimated the Americans was escalating, though he took pains to place most of the blame on Abu, who had clearly mismanaged this entire fiasco every step of the way.

There was no question in his mind that Stark and his friends weren’t going to leave. Let him come stomping out in his armored suit. They would fire and keep firing, and sooner or later he’d run out of flame. Plus, they were in the desert, miles away from any sort of civilization. Time and location were on Raza’s side.

“He’s coming! The iron man is coming!” screamed one of Raza’s men who clearly had not made the obvious association to realize who their attacker was.

Sure enough, the iron man and the two Power Rangers emerged from the cave. In the naked light of day, Raza saw the damage that the armor had sustained and his hopes were sustained. The iron man might not even make it out of the encampment. The Rangers, on the other hand, proved to be a different challenge.

“You guys think we’re gonna let you get away with what you did?” Mack aggressively said to Raza and his men.

“You all are gonna pay for what you did to Yinsen!” Ronny added, sounding just as aggressive.

Raza refused to be taken in by their threats and instead shouted to his men, “FIRE! FIRE!” They unleashed a massive hail of bullets upon them. The Red and Yellow Rangers flipped out of their way, while the iron man continued to move forward, the gray armor scarred and sizzling.

Mack and Ronny landed near a group of Raza’s firing men and instantly unleashed an attack on them. None of them proved to be any challenge without the use of their weapons, as the Rangers punched and kicked them into unconsciousness. They were nothing like fighting Flurious’s Chillers or Moltor’s Lava Lizards. These guys were human and cowards.

Meanwhile, Raza realized that Stark was heading straight for the ammo dump, and he was raising his arms in the same manner he had before when he’d unleashed the flamethrowers. “Cut him off!” Raza said, as he ran and continued to fire, hoping to drive Stark away from the ammo dump.

Out of nowhere, Mack flipped his way to Raza, kicking his gun out of his hands and sending it to the ground. Raza now found himself face-to-face with something just as dangerous as Stark: a Power Ranger.

“Remember me?” Mack asked him, right before Raza attempted to defeat him with a heavy head butt to Mack’s helmet. But the move ended up being more affective towards Raza than Mack, as the terrorist began to stagger in front of him. “Guess it’s my turn.” Adding to the blow, Mack kicked Raza in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Within seconds, Stark had turned his flames loose upon the boxes and boxes of ammunition. The fire began to eat into the crates, and the Stark logos on all of them crisped and burned away. He saw the world through a haze of red, and that was even before he was igniting everything around him. The crates had been thrown together in such a way that they were almost a maze, but it didn’t deter him. He just pushed his way further in and continued to unleash his flamethrowers.

A withering barrage of gunfire, concentrated all in the small of Stark’s back, knocked him to his knees. He tried to shake it off, but instantly realized that a stray bullet had caught the hose leading to his flamethrower. Fuel had spilled and he had inadvertently ignited it himself, with the result being that his left arm was now aflame.

He batted at it frantically with his right gauntlet, trying to smother it, and suddenly his right shoulder was burning. But it wasn’t from flame. He’d been right to be concerned about the seams: all the stress that his armor had endured had resulted in a small fissure, and a bullet had been lucky enough to pierce it and lodge in Stark’s upper arm.

Stark struggled to his feet, pushing away any thoughts of fear or panic or anything that didn’t relate to the simple idea that he could not be stopped. The suit made terrible grinding noises around him, like a car stripping its gears. He ignored it, focusing instead on the fire on his left arm. He finished smothering it, leaving scorch marks on his metal that otherwise was unharmed.

He didn’t dare reignite his flamethrowers lest he wind up setting his armor ablaze again. But he didn’t need to. The conflagration had taken on its own life, leaping from one box to the next. Mirthlessly he watched his name on the sides of the boxes going up in smoke. There was something almost symbolic about it, because he sensed on some level that the man who had built all these weapons was being burned away along with them. It remained to be seen what was going to be left behind, presuming he survived.

Nearby, Mack and Ronny were doing their best to take down most of Raza’s men to give Tony more time to do what he had to do with the crates. They could barely see him past the large quantities of flames that surrounded him. They wondered for a moment if he was even still alive.

However, their own lives were suddenly on the line, as more of Raza’s men seemed to be coming at them with guns. They stopped fighting momentarily, seeing how the odds were suddenly stacked against them. Ronny quickly turned to Mack and said, “We can’t go on fighting like this!”

Mack nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We need to get out of here.” He then turned back to the approaching men and added, “But the question is…how do we get past them?”

Just when it seemed as if the men were about to find out if bullets would bounce off the Power Rangers much like it had off of the iron man, a barrage of lasers suddenly came from above and hit in front of Raza’s men. They were immediately cut off from the Rangers and sent reeling back from the sudden explosion that erupted before them.

Ronny and Mack, both thankful and surprised at the same time, looked up to see one of their own vehicles, the Special Hydro Aero Recon Craft (shortened to S.H.A.R.C.), fly over them. From the cockpit window, they could see the rest of their teammates (all in Ranger form) waving to them.

“Alright! The cavalry’s here!” Mack exclaimed.

The two Rangers watched as the aircraft landed in front of them and its inhabitants pour out to greet them. The first one to approach was Dax (in his Blue Ranger form), who gleeful said, “Hey, guys! Where’ve ya been?”

“We’ve been looking all over for you.” Rose stated.

“Good to see you’re still in one piece.” Will said.

“Hope you didn’t get too worried.” Tyzonn added.

Mack and Ronny felt like hugging their teammates that they were so happy to finally see them. They had only guessed that the others were able to track their location the moment they activated their morphers.

“You guys made it here just in time.” Mack said. “We have to—”

Before he could finish his statement, there was a loud explosion that coincided with a tremendous earthquake, and the next thing the Rangers (as well as Raza and his men) knew, they were seeing the metallic figure of Tony Stark rocketing away from the flaming crates. Ronny and Mack were shocked to see how Stark’s feet were lit up like the exhaust of a jet, propelling him skyward, away from the terrorist camp.

“Oh, no!” Ronny exclaimed.

“What?” Will curiously asked. “What is that?”

“We’ll explain later.” Mack replied, while motioning to the S.H.A.R.C. “Let’s just follow that thing before it gets away from us.”

Quickly, the Rangers climbed into the aircraft, just as Raza and his men had noticed. Raza, keeping in mind his embarrassing defeat to the Red Ranger, ordered his men to open fire on them. Unfortunate for the terrorists, the Rangers had already boarded the aircraft and taken off. Raza glared as he watched his prey soar through the air, along with Tony Stark.


END OF CHAPTER SIX

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Seven

Ronny tried to fly the S.H.A.R.C. as fast as she could, in order for them to keep up with the speed in which Tony Stark had been flying in his remarkable armor. She and the others had de-morphed shortly after escaping the terrorist camp, and they started asking each other questions about what happened inside and outside the area. They barely even gave each other enough time to answer.

“So Dad and Spencer are here in Afghanistan?” Mack inquired. “Man! He’s gotta be worried sick about us!”

“Mostly you.” Rose said with a smile. “You don’t know how relieved he was once we were able to track your location.”

Mack nodded in understanding while showing off his own smile to his fellow Rangers. “We owe you guys a bunch. Thanks.”

“Hey, we’re a team, bro.” Will said. “No one gets left behind.”

It was peacefully quiet for a moment, until Dax brought up another troubling issue. “There’s just one thing I gotta know,” he said with a strange yet puzzled look on his face. “What the heck was that flying metal thing?”

“Yes,” Tyzonn uttered before suddenly realizing something. “And what happened to Mr. Stark?”

Just as Ronny and Mack were about to explain everything to their friends, Ronny spotted something down below. From what she could tell, it looked like a body that was battered and bruised, lying over a sand dune. It has to be Tony—who else could it have been, she thought. Proof of that had to have been the fact that she could’ve sworn that she noticed pieces of the armor scattered a couple of miles from where he currently was.

“There he is!” She suddenly said, directing the others’ attention to the spot where Tony Stark was.

Mack shook his head over the state he was in, seeming a bit concerned. “Land it, Ronny. We have to make sure he’s still okay.”

She did as she was instructed and landed close to Stark’s location. They dashed out of the S.H.A.R.C. as quickly as they could and approached his fallen form. He was face down on the sand, and blood was coming out of his ears. It was frightening to see him in such a condition, although Ronny and Mack had seen him in a worse state during their captivity. And once they had turned his body over, they noticed how much horrible he looked at the front than the back.

“Mr. Stark…Tony…are you alright?” Mack asked him.

The eyes of Will, Rose, Dax, and Tyzonn widened, as Will pulled at Stark’s shirt and revealed the device on his chest. His face literally was lit up as he looked down at the radiant circle. “Oh, man!”

“What did they do to him?” Rose cautiously asked.

“Is it a bomb?!” Dax exclaimed. “It’s got to be a bomb, right?!”

“How much time do we have ‘til it goes off?” Tyzonn asked, his voice was rising with as much urgency as the others. “Is there a cut-off switch?”

The more questions they came up with, the more Ronny and Mack attempted to explain to them what was really going on. But they were too frantic to allow them any time to do so. Even while Rose was quickly uncorking her canteen and trying to ease water down Stark’s throat, they were still throwing questions at the two Rangers.

Stark coughed up water, but it wasn’t because he was choking. It was because he finally realized what they were reacting to, and it was damned funny. He tried to speak and his voice was barely a croak as he said, “Not…a bomb, not a bomb.”

Will, Rose, Dax, and Tyzonn stared in confusion at the miniature Arc reactor implanted in Stark’s chest, while Ronny and Mack were laughing along with Tony. Finally Rose brought herself to ask, “Then what is it?”

Mack stopped laughing long enough to answer, “A reminder.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting back to the Hartford household was a massive relief to Mack. He barely even recognized the place after being away from it for so long. He wondered if his room was even still in the same shape that he left it in. But that wasn’t his biggest concern right now. Even as he, his father, his friend/butler, and his fellow rangers entered the mansion, all he could think about was the condition of Tony Stark, who was picked up back at the Air Force Base by his chauffer, Happy Hogan, and greeted by his assistant, Virginia “Pepper” Potts.

“He’ll be going to the hospital for further checking up, Mack,” was what his father kept telling him on the way there. “He’ll be just fine.”

Mack had always taken his father’s word for everything he had ever told him about something, but this was an exception. The horrors that he, Ronny, and Stark had all witnessed back in Afghanistan were things that would take years to forget about. He doubted if a man like Tony, who discovered the painful reality of how his own weapons were being used by the country’s worst enemies, would ever forget it.

“Well, I think the first thing you guys should do after coming back home is watch some nice, wholesome television!” Dax exclaimed, right before he skipped his way into the living room and turned on the television set. The first thing that popped up on the screen was a cartoon about a silent ninja being chased all over the world by his biggest crush, a pigtailed girl who had gone by the name of Pucca (whom the show was named after). Even though he had left it on for a few seconds, Dax was already beginning to like the show, laughing at moments that weren’t even meant to be hilarious.

Will walked right up to Dax and snatched the remote control from his hands, switching the television set to another channel. “I think they’d like to see something more grown-up than that, Dax.” He said.

“Oh, come on!” Dax remarked. “You mean to tell me that not even adults can enjoy a good kids show nowadays?”

Ignoring the question to avoid giving an answer, Will switched through several channels before stopping on one that had the face of Tony Stark on it, even before Ronny or Mack could’ve told him to do so. At first they thought it was a still image of Tony Stark being shown to give an update on his return to civilization. But this image of Stark was talking…live on television…and the words “Press Conference” was superimposed below him.

“I thought he was supposed to be at the hospital.” Tyzonn uttered.

Andrew’s eyes widened in shock at what he saw on the screen. “You aren’t the only one, Tyzonn.” He asked for Will to turn up the volume on the television set for them to hear clearly what it was that Stark was addressing the crowd of reporters about at the Stark Industries complex.

“I had my eyes opened over there.” Tony said. “I saw my weapons, with my name on them, in the hands of thugs. I thought we were doing good here…I can’t say that anymore.”

Mack had half of a smile on his face. At that moment, he wanted to turn around and tell his father that he told him so, but now wasn’t a good time. There was a man on television who should be getting medical attention right now rather than throwing at a press conference. However, he seemed to be throwing it for a purpose.

“The system is broken—there’s no accountability whatsoever.” Stark continued. “Effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries, until a time when I can reassess the future of this company.”

Andrew, Spencer, and the Power Rangers were taken aback by this sudden news from Tony Stark. Some of them were filled with glee, and some of them were wondering if Tony Stark had completely gone insane. Pretty much, Mack and Ronny represented the half that was filled with glee, while Andrew represented the side that was in doubt of Stark’s sanity.

Immediately, Andrew took away the remote control from Will and muted the television set, just as Obadiah Stane stepped in to take control of the chaotic crowd of reporters. He turned to Mack and Ronny and asked, “I want to know what happened when you three were held captive. Something must’ve happened to have him make such an announcement.”

Mack and Ronny exchanged a quick glance before Mack smiled and said, “We told you on the way back, Dad…Dax, Tyzonn, Rose, and Will found our location and rescued us in the S.H.A.R.C. That’s it.”

“Oh! But we forgot about the flying metal guy we saw, before we found Mr. Stark in the desert.” Dax said, and Mack and Ronny almost wanted to tape his mouth shut after that, knowing that Andrew would be asking more questions as a result of it.

“What flying metal guy?” He turned to Dax and asked.

Mack quickly stepped forward before Dax could answer and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “The important thing is that we all made it back in one piece. Right?” Andrew took a long, hard look at his son, as if he were questioning his honesty at that time. This look didn’t let his look get past him and immediately put himself at the defense…but for the wrong reasons. “Personally, I think what Mr. Stark said shouldn’t come as such a surprise to you. What he’s doing is wrong, and he has to stop before things get worse.”

Watching Mack confront his father the way he was, Ronny felt like she should step forward and say something. She witnessed just as much as both men had while held in captivity. But what stopped her was the thought of getting in the middle of a family discussion. She shouldn’t even being standing in the room with the rest of the team while they were having it. They might as well go and clean the Zords or something.

It was silent for a long time before Andrew finally stated, “We’ll discuss this further at another time. Right now, I want you and Ronny to get some rest, while the others go to Stark’s home and make sure he’s okay…physically and mentally.”

“Dad, he’s not going crazy!” Mack exclaimed. “He’s starting to think rationally!”

“I said we’d discuss it later, Mack.” Andrew sternly said. “You’re just as much in no condition to be debating this as Tony is.”

Mack gave his father a cold stare. “It seems like I’m never in the right condition to do anything nowadays.” With that said, he dashed out of the living room and headed upstairs, leaving both his father and friends worried about how long this matter would affect him.

Suddenly the phone in Andrew’s study room rang, and Spencer quickly went to answer it. As he had done so, Ronny went upstairs to check on Mack, while the rest of the team headed out of the mansion to do what their boss had instructed them to do. For a moment, Hartford was alone. He seemed always used to feeling that way for so many years. But now it appeared to be the last thing he wanted to be, after the heated discussion between him and his son.

Thankfully it didn’t last very long. Spencer returned back in the room and stated, “Sir, it is Adam Park on the phone. He wished to update you on the ‘Bruce Banner Situation’.”

Just as soon as Spencer uttered the words “Banner” and “Situation”, all of Andrew’s thoughts on Mack were quickly pushed aside and focused directly on that phone call Spencer had just answered. Quickly, he headed into his study room and picked up the receiver. The first thing he said into the phone was, “Hello, Adam. What’s the mission status?”

“Well, we’ve been tracking him down from San Francisco to Southeast Asia.” Adam said over the phone. “Tommy’s been using a new satellite surveillance camera to catch his every movements, and so far it’s taken us in the right direction.”

Andrew grinned. “Excellent. Where is he now?”

“He’s with some group known as the Kung Fu clan.” Adam replied. “Does that name ring a bell?”

“Not that I know of.” Andrew said. “And I’m not sure why he’s with a group that instructs martial arts. That’s not in Banner’s nature.”

“Well, whatever reason he’s there for, we’ll find out very soon.” Adam assured. “We sent in a ‘spy’ to follow Banner and let us know why he’s involved with this group. We’ll keep you informed in case anything comes up.”

“Be careful. Banner’s been a little shaken up as of late, with the military tracking him down so hard.” Andrew instructed. “It’ll be best to find more Rangers to help you on this mission, and I’ll be glad to send in my team.”

“I don’t think it’ll be necessary, Andrew. But I’ll take you up on it.”

“You might have to. What you’re dealing with is nothing either of us have ever faced before.”

Adam laughed, although Hartford was taking himself very seriously. “Can’t be any different from Rita and Zedd. Thanks for the help, Andrew. We’ll keep in touch.”

“I hope so.”


END OF CHAPTER SEVEN

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Eight


Doing as they were instructed by Andrew Hartford to do, the other Operation Overdrive Rangers went to the home of Tony Stark, only to be rejected of entry from Pepper Potts. She told them that “Mr. Stark” was hard at work and that he “wished not to be bothered at the time.” The Rangers were obviously puzzled by this excuse, but considering recent events, they understood and returned back to the mansion.

When told of this, Andrew made several attempts to reach Tony Stark through the phone. However, none of his calls were answered. Hartford kept calling for days and weeks, and each time there was no answer. Something was up and Andrew grew curious to know what it was each time he called. He even tried to talk to Mack and get an answer from him. But not only was he still angry with his father, he was just as perplexed as he was.

Mack’s curiosity grew just as Andrew’s had, and he felt the need to try and reach Tony Stark himself. So late one night, he went to the secret base underground the mansion and used his father’s supercomputer to bypass Stark’s phone and reach him without being ignored. This was a trick that Rose had taught him one time, in case he ever reached a busy line.

Turning down the speakers to avoid alerting any of the sleeping residents of the mansion, Mack waited for the phone system to ring a few times and then spoke into the microphone, “Hello, Mr. Stark?”

“Wh-What?” Tony’s surprised voice came through the speakers, and Mack could’ve sworn he heard metal objects clattering on the floor. “Who’s that? Is this God speaking to me? Am I dead after all?”

Mack tried to refrain from laughing, as he spoke, “No, Mr. Stark. It’s me…Mack. The Red Ranger.”

“Oh, yeah. Red.” Stark said, with only a hint of alarm in his voice. “How are you reaching me? I mean, I hear your voice through the sound system in my house, but I don’t understand how you bypassed its frequency.”

“It’s all part of my dad’s computer. He has a program that taps into phone lines and allows me to reach you without getting anything like voicemail or your secretary.”

“Huh…” Tony sounded very amused. “You do realize that’s a federal offense, right?”

Mack trembled a little. “Is it?”

“Nah, I’m kidding.”

Mack breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes and smiling. “Who says you don’t have one heck of a sense of humor?”

“Obadiah. But that’s a completely different story.” Tony said. “I take it that you’re calling on behalf of your old man. He’s left at least about five million messages on my answering machine.”

“He’s just curious to know why you decided not to make any more weapons.” Mack replied. “I told him it’s because of what we saw back in Afghanistan, but he’s blaming it all on your insanity from being held captive there.” Mack felt himself becoming slightly angry again, as he tried explaining everything to Tony. “I did my best to convince him. I even tried to tell him about…”

Tony quickly interjected, “You didn’t, did you?”

Mack was caught by surprise of the urgency in his voice as he asked him that question. “Well…no. I didn’t. I’m not even sure why, but I…”

“You can’t tell anyone about how we got out of that nightmare.” Stark demanded. “Not even Obadiah Stane.”

“Why not?”

“Just trust me, kid. If the military or anybody else were to find out about the iron suit I created to aid us in our escape, they’d just it for way more dangerous and maybe even deadly means.”

For some strange reason, the first person Mack thought about after being alerted of that possibility was Flurious. Even though his knowledge of modern technology was scarce, a creature like himself could use a suit like Tony Stark’s for purposes other than jewel hunting. But he would have a more difficult time getting the helmet on his crystal-structured head than know how to operate it. So what reason did he have to worry?

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone?” Tony requested.

Just as Mack was about to make his promise, a familiar voice spoke up from behind him. “He promises, Mr. Stark.” He turned around to see Ronny, who had just entered the underground base with her Overdrive uniform on, just like Mack had.

“Who’s that?” Tony asked. “Please tell me that’s just puberty kicking in.”

“It’s Ronny, Mr. Stark.” She said. “The Yellow Ranger.”

Stark sighed in relief. “Oh, yeah. My other cellmate. Well…thanks for agreeing to keep mum about this.”

“No problem.” Ronny said. “We’ll do anything to help out.”

“That’s right, Mr. Stark.” Mack added. “We’re Power Rangers.”

“Is that a fact?” Stark remarked. “Well, would you two kids mind stopping by my house tomorrow night? I’d like for you to see the next stage in my line of ‘iron products’.”

Mack and Ronny exchanged curious glances. Could that be the reason Tony Stark had been rejecting phone calls and house visits? Had he been upgrading his blueprints to another design? There was only one way to find out…

“Sure.” Mack answered. “We’ll be there.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there at the home of Tony Stark they were on the next evening. They left without notifying Andrew or the other Rangers, knowing they would stop them in an instant or ask to come with them. It was a risk they could not take, especially after making their promise to Tony.

The two Rangers were granted access into the house by J.A.R.V.I.S. (stood for “Just A Really Very Intelligent System), who practically ran the entire place—literally. It spoke to them as they entered with a crisp, British, no-nonsense type of voice. It slightly reminded them of Spencer, just without the personality.

“Mr. Stark shall see you in his workshop downstairs.” Jarvis told them, speaking from practically everywhere in the house, scaring the life out of Mack and Ronny.

“T-Thanks.” Mack said, before he and Ronny headed downstairs to Tony’s workshop area.

Upon entering, they realized that Tony Stark was nowhere to be seen inside the massive room. All that was in there was a large assortment of tools and robotic arms. And—oh, yes—a metallic object that stood like a statue in the center of the room. Their eyes focused on that one object, as they walked further in.

“Is that it?” Ronny asked, sounding a bit disappointed. “Is that what he called us all this way in to see? Just a model of his new ‘product’?”

Mack didn’t want to seem as disappointed as she was, while they circled around the model, noting its awesome features. It was definitely a revised, updated, computer-assisted, Mark II-edition of his previous armor. Although neither of them could tell, it seemed like it could be more form-fitting than the “Mark I” suit, even though rivets and seams were still visible.

Mack and Ronny stood in front of the model, gazing into its “eyes,” which were nothing more than lenses that glowed in a light bluish hue. Mack just smiled as he said, “Well, even if it is a model, I still can’t wait to see how it functions.”

“Neither can I.”

An electronic voice emerged from the model, causing Mack and Ronny to nearly jump out of their skins. They took a step back and stared in awe, as ailerons and air brakes popped while the head and arms of the metal object moved. It only took the two Power Rangers a moment to realize that they were not looking at a model, but the actual thing—with Tony Stark inside of it.

“Too sweet!” Ronny exclaimed.

“Pretty cool, eh?” Tony said from inside the armor. “You caught me just as I was getting the ‘feel’ of it. It’s pretty weird. It’s like I have to think of it as an exoskeleton. A part of me.”

Mack shook his head in amazement. “Makes sense to me.”

“So what’s next?” Ronny asked.

Tony was silent for a moment, and then he said to Jarvis, who was programmed into his armor, “Stand by for calibration.”

“Standing by, sir.”

Within the helmet, readouts were projected against the lenses that covered the eyeholes, and they provided Tony with a constant stream of information about both his own body and the performance of the armor. Jarvis had downloaded his monitoring capabilities and observational protocol into the armor.

“Alright. Let’s do this.” Tony said, before igniting the boots and gauntlets of the armor. He was careful enough to maintain an even keel, and the armor floated him down the driveway that led out of the workshop. Mack and Ronny dodged away from his path, daring not to be caught in the wake of his powerful engines as he departed.

The two Power Rangers watched him as he emerged from the workshop, rising slowly, taking his time. He quickly began to gain confidence and move faster. The confidence was short-lived, however, as he discovered that even the smallest movements altered his trajectory in unexpected ways.

Back in the workshop, the phone suddenly rang at the worktable. Mack and Ronny dashed right over to it and pressed the “speaker” button. Tony’s voice was instantly heard, speaking directly from the armor. “How am I looking from your perspectives?”

“So far, so good.” Mack told him.

“Alright. Well, just to keep me on the safe side, I want you two to see what I’m seeing.” Tony said. “Turn on the plasma TV just behind the worktable. The channel should already be set on the display inside my helmet.”

Mack noticed a remote control sitting right beside the phone and used it to turn on the plasma television set. The image of the HUD display appeared on the screen, and Mack and Ronny almost had a sense of flying just by looking at it. It was the same feeling they got while riding inside the S.H.A.R.C.

“How’s it looking?” Tony inquired, his voice on the phone totally in sync with that of the plasma TV.

Mack and Ronny grinned, seeming just as giddy as Stark was. “Looking real good, Tony.” Mack answered.

The HUD flashed on a pitch-and-yaw display with crosshairs that enabled Tony to anticipate when he was starting to go off track. He started developing the ability to course correct before it had a noticeable impact on his trajectory. The HUD also continued to give him a steady stream of altitude, power levels, and vital signs monitoring. All of this Mack and Ronny paid close attention to along with Tony, functioning as a second pair of eyes.

They saw how the horizon was still tilting in disorienting fashion more often than Tony would have liked. He experimented for a time, trying to find the ideal balance that would provide him the maximum amount of control. Eventually he discovered a combination of jet and gauntlet booster angularity that enabled him to fly straight and true. Just like that, he was in complete control of his trajectory.

Ronny, being the expert pilot she was, could tell how much in control Tony Stark seemed to have been with his flying. “You’re almost like a natural with this,” she said to him over the phone.

“Thanks. But it was never in my intentions to be the crash test dummy.” Stark said. “I wanted Rhodey to be in this suit, but I couldn’t ask him to get in it, once he started questioning my sanity like everybody else.”

Mack shook his head negatively. “If only they could see you now, sir.”

“Sir?” Tony said with a chuckle. “Am I talking to Jarvis?”

“No, sir.” Jarvis answered. “You are talking to Mackenzie…”

“I know, Jarvis. I know.” Tony said. “I was just being sarcastic.”

Mack and Ronny tried to hold in their laughter, as Stark stretched out his left hand, which countered his direction, sending him hurtling out toward the Pacific Ocean. He let out a long, delirious whoop, like a kid on a roller coaster. It was interesting for Mack and Ronny to see him this way, considering it was the first time they ever had since they were introduced to him almost a year ago.

The moon hung high above him, full and ripe, reaching out to him and summoning him. Tony accepted the invitation, flying straight upward, an armored bird on the wing. Ice crystals began to form on his mask as he continued his ascent. He paid them no mind, as the moon was “calling” to him.

From the workshop, Mack and Ronny realized what he was attempting, and they wondered just as much as he did: Could he make it that high? Seriously? Would it be possible? How close could he come?

Visions of standing on the moon, facing the American flag that had been planted by men wearing suits that were as primitive compared to his, filled Tony’s thoughts. Beneath his helmet he grinned foolishly, caught up in his visions. A small part of his brain tried to shout at him, gain his attention, and inform him that he wasn’t thinking straight. That he was caught up in some sort of flight-related euphoria that could undercut, even ruin the entire experiment. He paid it no mind, focusing his thoughts elsewhere.

Jarvis’s voice came in through his helmet, giving real-world voice to the internal ones that Tony was ignoring. “Power: fifteen percent. Recommend you descend and recharge, sir.”

Hearing this, Mack and Ronny became slightly alarmed. “Uh, Tony?” Ronny uttered. “Maybe you should come back…you know…before, uh, something…happens?”

Tony, intoxicated as the moon beckoned, did not acknowledge. He didn’t notice as all the indicators in his HUD began flashing red. The two Rangers in the workshop, however, did. They knew his armor was doing everything to warn him.

“Tony! Snap out of it!” Mack yelled into the phone.

“Power at five percent,” Jarvis told him coldly. “Threshold breached.”

The eyes of Mack and Ronny were glued to the plasma TV, as they waited for Tony to take notice of all the warnings that were being given to him. And then, all of the sudden, the screen went dark and a dial tone was heard over the phone.

“Oh, no!” Ronny cried.

Inside the armor, everything went dark. That was finally sufficient to snap Tony from his daydream. The only illumination the HUD was displaying was being powered by the emergency backups, and all it said was, “System shut down.” Fortunately that was sufficient to regain Tony’s complete and undivided attention.

“Uhh, Jarvis? Mack? Ronny?”

No answer.

The jet boots fritzed out and died, and the gauntlets had nothing to offer. The suit was a dead hulk; for all the control he had over the situation, he might just as well have sealed himself up inside a barrel and had it thrown over Niagara Falls. He plummeted toward the Earth in total freefall, the world pinwheeling around him. He plunged through the clouds and continued down and down. The lights of the downtown Los Angeles grid spread out far below him, so far away that it almost seemed irrelevant to his predicament.

From the rooftop of Tony’s house, Mack and Ronny ran up there and looked towards the skies, trying to find any sign of Tony. They hoped to God that he had not hit the ground yet or might’ve gotten lost in outer space, because it might that there was still a chance to morph up and save him.

“There he is!” Ronny yelled, pointing to a small, glistening object that was falling fast towards the Earth. “We’ve got to do something!”

From the rooftop, they heard a series of popping noises coming from the armor. The power had cut out from it, and it left Tony Stark in imminent danger. Mack was about to go for his Tracker and attempt to morph, in order to catch Tony before he hit the ground. But he stopped once he noticed how the boots and gauntlets were starting to light up again, signifying that power had been restored to the suit.

“He’s alright.” Mack said with a smile, which Ronny shared with him, feeling extremely relieved.

The onboard GPS aided Tony in making it back to his estate, which was a bit more of a chore than he would have expected. Then again, he wasn’t exactly accustomed to finding his way home while a thousand feet in the air. He angled himself around so that he was standing and descended toward the workshop driveway. Some stiff wind gusts and a few sputters from the armor, however, were making it difficult for him to hold the stance. He started drifting off course.

Mack and Ronny realized that he was closing the distance between himself and the ground very fast, and they were (again) forced to dodge out of harm’s way, as Tony punched through the roof of his home. He kept going, smashing through the floor, and continued into the workshop where he smashed into one of his prized vehicles.

Looking through the hole in the roof, Mack and Ronny could see the extensive damage that Tony’s crash-landing caused, and they could also see Tony down below in his armor, resting on his wrecked car. “Are you alright?” Mack yelled out to him. Tony’s only response was lifting his arm and giving his two friends a thumb up, before dropping it and letting his head fall back.


END OF CHAPTER EIGHT

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Nine


The next day at the Hartford mansion, Mack woke up and expected there to be some sort of unpleasant news about him and Ronny sneaking out late at night and going to see Tony Stark. His father always had some way of finding out these things, being the genius that he was. But, surprisingly, their secret had not been exposed. Proof of that was how his father approached him that afternoon, with a delighted look on his face.

A confused Mack remarked, “You seem happy today. What about?”

“I hate to admit when you’re wrong, son,” Andrew said, “But it looks like you were about Tony.”

Again feeling very puzzled, Mack asked, “What are you talking about?”

Andrew led him into his study room and walked right up to his desk, where there was a Daily Bugle newspaper sitting over some artifacts and personal documents. He picked up the newspaper while it was folded, obscuring the front headline, and handed it over to Mack. “It’s all right there in black and white.”

Growing more curious by the second, Mack opened up the newspaper and instantly saw the front headline: “Stark Industries Weapons Cause Stir In Middle East!” Apparently, Mack’s father had failed to read the rest of the article, which went into detail about peaceful villages in Gulmira being attacked by warlords and insurgents, driving them from their homes with high-tech weapons that had the “Stark Industries” name branded on them.

Mack could barely believe what he was reading. He thought about the other night, in which he and Ronny went to see Stark and his latest creation. All of that talk about being a changed man, especially after all that they had witnessed in Afghanistan, was a hoax. Nothing’s changed, except for the fact that half of the Operation Overdrive team was involved in the conspiracy.

Seeing the grief on Mack’s face of the news, Andrew refrained himself from seeming giddy any longer and placed a calm hand on his son’s shoulder. “I know you wanted to believe him when he said he was giving up making weapons, Mack. But you have to understand that we were all put here on this Earth with a purpose. And Tony’s purpose is to serve our country with his gift for creating the things that are protecting it.”

“Our country, Dad?” Mack said. “And what about others? I thought we all became Power Rangers to save the world—not throw it into turmoil any more than it already has!”

Andrew sighed. “Mack, what we do is different from what the men and women in the Armed Forces are doing overseas. Yes, we are saving the world; but we’re up against a force that is just as powerful as we are.”

“So you’re saying we should mind our own business?”

“At least for the time being. When we’ve finished with our jewel situation, then we’ll consider helping out. But for now…”

“I’m sorry, Dad. But, as a Power Ranger, I just can’t do that.” And with that said, Mack tossed the newspaper back to his father and walked briskly out of the room.

Looking at the newspaper in his hands, Andrew knew right away what his son was about to attempt. “Mack! Mack, get back here! Mack!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as quickly as Mack had left his father’s study, he gathered together his fellow Rangers and left the mansion in the S.H.A.R.C., much to his father’s displeasure. The Red Power Ranger was able to explain the whole situation to the others, telling them what was happening over in Gulmira at the moment. Ronny found it all just as discouraging as Mack did, and she was the first one to step up and volunteer to come. The others came because they felt it was the right thing to do as Power Rangers.

Several times Andrew and Spencer attempted contacting them through the S.H.A.R.C.’s communication system, and several times had Mack ignored the transmission, even going as far as to shut it off completely during the remainder of the flight. Silence had fallen over the interior of the aircraft…very uncomfortable silence. And it turned out to be a very long flight, not arriving at their destination until the break of dawn.

With help from a G.P.S. tracker built into the aircraft’s system, they were able to find Gulmira in only a matter of seconds. It was not hard to spot, however, seeing the large fumes pouring out from the villages. Even from the S.H.A.R.C., they could see the people being raided from their homes and families. It was enough to bring intense anger into the hearts of each member of the team. It was enough to bring them to morph before even landing.

“Ready?” Mack asked the others.

“Ready!” They confirmed.

And after pulling out and activating their trackers, they let out their battle cry: “OVERDRIVE ACCELERATE!” Then afterwards, bright flashes of colors lit through the windows of the aircraft, as the six youths inside were instantly replaced with their uniformed alter egos.

The S.H.A.R.C. landed near a situation that had occurred between a family and a group of insurgents. A small boy’s father had been dragged away by the invaders who had overrun their town while the boy, his mother, and his younger brother—clutched to his mother’s bosom—watched from hiding. The boy wanted to run to his father’s rescue, but his mother held him back, whispering frantically in his ear that his father would be fine. But the boy knew the truth and still went to his father’s rescue.

Unfortunately, the only thing (literally) standing in the boy’s way was an insurgent who looked like someone who had been in a fight. His nose was broken and there was still severe bruising under his eyes. He had a gun in one hand but didn’t need to use it as he swung his open hand. He’d expected it to strike the boy coming towards him and knock him off his feet. But he felt his hand suddenly stop, being held back by something.

The insurgent turned his head to his right and saw a familiar sight before him: the “face” of the Yellow Power Ranger. She said something to him in English, a language he could not understand in a million years. But had he learned it, he would’ve understood her as she aggressively said, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” She followed this with one fierce punch to the face, adding to the pain he already felt in it.

Watching his attacker fall hard to the ground, the boy looked up at the bright yellow figure before him, while his father arrived and embraced him. The boy’s eyes were still on the yellow rescuer, who gave a positive nod and a thumb up. “Thank you, Prophet,” the boy said in his native tongue.

Beneath her helmet, Ronny smiled, feeling extremely satisfied of doing something so greatly heroic that day. However, the fun was not over yet. Her gaze moved away from the boy and his father and went to an entire group of insurgents coming at her and the other Rangers with guns in hands. She returned her attention to the two innocent lives that she just rescued and shouted for them to run away. Of course, she was speaking in plain English, a language these people knew less of than the jerk whose lights she just punched out. The only way her warnings could come across was by gesturing for them to run away, even throwing in a few gentle pushes to get them started.

The insurgents came and the Power Rangers were suddenly at the defense, using all of their remarkable fighting skills to take down each insurgent with great ease. Their moves baffled the men, who had never encountered such swiftness. It was almost a hopeless cause trying to fight them, because these were superheroes they were dealing with.

Five men attempted to take down the Pink and Yellow Rangers together, trying to kill two birds with one stone. They figured with weapons like the ones they were brandishing that moment, it should be no big deal to take down these so-called “gods.” But soon they found that sentiment easier said than done, as the two Rangers back-flipped and cartwheel their way into an upper hand, kicking the guns out of the insurgents’ hands and then sending them falling flat on their butts.

The Black, Blue, and Mercury Rangers seemed just as victorious, using their own assortment of weapons to overpower the ones made out of Stark Industries. Most of them either ended up sliced in half or melted away by the Rangers’ weapons, leaving the insurgents retreating almost instantly in fear of having the same thing happen to them.

While fighting, Mack spotted a pile of crates nestled nearby, all of which had the “Stark Industries” name branded on them. Seeing that brand name now brought intense hatred over him, as he thought of only one person: the man who created them—Tony Stark. And with this feeling soaring over him, he pulled out his standard sidearm, the Drive Defender (which functions included blasting with lasers capable of breaking rock and a sword mode), from the holster on his right hip. He aimed it right at the crates and pulled the trigger, unleashing a volley of lasers that destroyed all of the crates, engulfing them all in a large pillar of flame.

“That was for lying to me, Tony.” Mack uttered from beneath his red helmet, sounding very disgruntled.

The other villagers, freed from the oppression of their captors through the miraculous appearance of the color-coded Prophets, ran to one another. Families and lovers were reunited; hope presented them for the first time in what seemed an eternity. Their saviors stood in the middle of the square, looking around, clearly trying to make certain that no other insurgents posed a threat.

Then, all of the sudden, the boy who Ronny had rescued earlier appeared and cried in his native tongue, “Look out for big, metal monster!”

The Power Rangers had failed to understand what he meant and could only go by what he had been pointing to. Their gazes turned from his location to down the street, seeing a tank rolling forward, its turret targeting straight at them. And before either of the Rangers could make a sudden move, the tank fired its missile, and it slammed near them. The explosion that was unleashed overpowered the six brave heroes, throwing their bodies off the ground and across the air. They all screamed in agony, as they hit the ground hard and laid there in great pain. The experience was almost like getting attacked by Flurious or Moltor, out in the middle of their own battlefield.

Fortunately, the sudden attack wasn’t enough to de-morph them, meaning they still had a chance to get to their feet and tackle this sudden threat. As they stood up, they looked around to see if the villagers had gotten out of harm’s way before the attack occurred. And to their satisfaction, they all had, leaving it only them and the tank.

“How do we stop that big thing?” Will asked.

“It’ll be impossible to come at it without getting caught by another missile!” Rose indicated.

“I can blind sight it with my super speed!” Ronny suggested. “He’ll never see me coming!”

“That’s too risky!” Mack remarked. “The missiles would move too fast for you to dodge!”

“Well, we have to do something!” Dax exclaimed.

And while the other Rangers were trying fast and hard to come up with a battle strategy, Tyzonn—the Mercury Ranger—heard something that sounded like it was streaking through the air. He looked up and tried to see what it was. But by the time he could’ve figured it out, something dropped down from on high like a meteor, landing right in front of the Power Rangers.

“Whoa!” Tyzonn yelled.

“What the…?” Dax began.

“Huh?” Rose uttered.

“Man!” Will exclaimed.

“Is that…?” Ronny said.

“It can’t be!” Mack shouted.

Standing before the six Rangers was a man…a man made of metal, or covered in metal. He said nothing, but his eyes were glowing.

For Mack and Ronny, it was a somewhat familiar sight, except the color was different (the red and gold threw them off greatly).

For the other four Rangers, something was definitely amiss.

This “iron man” suddenly raised his arm and a miniature missile popped out of the forearm. He fired it, and it blasted into the underside of the tank, rupturing the fuel lines and disrupting the electronics. Sparks flew, igniting the spilled fuel, and the tank immediately went up like a volcano. Seconds later, it exploded. No one got out alive.

The Rangers were in awe over what they had just seen, while the “iron man” turned and faced them, looking almost ominous in front of the flames in the background. “Thanks for helping me spread the fear,” he said, right before he turned again and targeted the cache of Jericho missiles, firing at them. Had the missiles been active, the combined firepower would have been sufficient to reduce the entire area for miles around into a great blackened pit. But they weren’t, and thus Tony’s blasts instead merely transformed the missiles to useless scrap.

The Rangers watched this iron avenger rocket skyward, seemingly pleased with what he had just done. Out of them all, it was Mack who was most impressed by what he just saw, knowing who this iron stranger really was and his purpose for being there.

Who’s wrong now, Dad? He thought with a smile.


END OF CHAPTER NINE

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Ten

Andrew Hartford felt more nervous than angry. It was mostly because his one and only son was a million miles away at the moment, fighting in a war that he had no reason being in. And no matter how much he tried to contact him, he kept getting a “No Signal Reached” message on his computer. Spencer did his best where he was inside the underground station, but he encountered the same problems that Andrew had.

“Why would he choose to defy me like that?” Andrew asked. “He knows how dangerous it is there.”

Taking his attention away from the computers, Spencer told Andrew, “Would you have expected anything less, sir? He has defied you on more than one occasion, has he not?”

Andrew nodded in agreement with Spencer’s statement, remembering the moment when he first took the Red Ranger Tracker meant for him, during the time he was held captive in Moltor’s lair. Of course, Mack was only doing what he believed best at that time and that was save his old man’s butt. However, this current situation was different from that. Mack and the other Rangers were not fighting Moltor and his Lava Lizards; they were challenging armed, vicious terrorists.

Suddenly, a beeping noise was heard from the computer near Spencer, and he stared at the readout on screen to see the identified caller. “Sir, it’s James Rhodes. He is calling from the Edwards Air Force Base.”

“Probably to talk about the unidentified aircraft flying near it—the S.H.A.R.C.” Andrew uttered, as he walked over to the computer and pressed the “Answer” button to bring Rhodey’s voice up over the speakers.

“Hartford, I’m glad I could reach you.” Rhodey said. “Have you seen Tony lately?”

Andrew exchanged a quick suspicious glance with Spencer before he answered Rhodey. “No, I haven’t. Why? What’s wrong?”

“We’ve picked up some kind of unmanned combat robot with air ground capabilities here in our vicinity, and I have a hunch that it might’ve come straight from Stark Industries.” Rhodey explained, right before another beeping noise was heard over the speaker. “Hold on. I’m getting a call from him right now. I’ll talk to you later, Hartford.”

“Sure thing.” Andrew said, and he hung up the phone, while pondering over the discussion that he and Mack had recently, in which Tony Stark was the main subject.

All of the sudden, the sound of bodies being slid down the six poles at the back of the room caught the attention of Andrew and Spencer. They turned to see the Rangers coming down into the underground base, each looking very exhausted and shaken up. The moment Andrew saw Mack, he did not let up on his anger.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t take away your Tracker this very instant.” He said.

Mack held up his hands in protest. “Dad, I know you’re angry, but—”

“You bet I’m angry!” Andrew snapped. “You left without first checking with me, and that nearly cost the lives of your teammates.”

Ronny then stepped forward and said, “Actually, Mr. Hartford, it was pretty easy taking care of those terrorists.”

“Yeah, they were wimps!” Dax commented.

“I wouldn’t even call them terrorists.” Will said.

“And the weapons they used were no match compared to ours.” Rose added.

“I believe we had done the right thing going.” Tyzonn concluded.

Andrew’s stern eyes had gone from Mack to each of the others. “It doesn’t matter how easy the fight was. Neither of you had any business being there. Your mission is to find the jewels of the Corona Aurora; not to involve yourselves in worldly affairs.”

“Why not? Tony Stark did.” Mack uttered, and that statement got quite a surprised and confused reaction from not only Andrew, but Rose, Will, Tyzonn, and Dax as well. Ronny’s body tensed, wondering if Mack had done the right thing making that comment.

Just then, the computers again beeped and Spencer checked the readouts to see what was going on. “Sir, it’s Tony Stark on the line.” He started to feel like a telephone operator—except rather than plugging in different sockets, he was just looking at a screen.

Andrew walked up to the panel and pressed the button, allowing Tony Stark’s voice to come through. “Hartford, I know this sounds weird coming from me, but I think I’m going to need some help from your ‘Rainbow Delights’.”

Mack was just about on his way out, until his father grabbed his arm and held him back. “No so fast, Tony. What’s going on?”

“Do I really have the time to explain in detail?” Stark said, sounding very out of breath, which Andrew noticed at first but tried not to pay too much mind to it.

“Tony, Rhodey called a few minutes ago, telling us about some unmanned robot flying over Edwards.” Andrew informed. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Well, he contacted me shortly before I called, telling me the same thing.” Stark urgently remarked. “But that’s besides the point right now. I need some help.”

While Tony had been taking, Andrew tried to hear him over what sounded like a blast of rushing air. Again, he did his best to ignore it while talking. “I’m not going to help you, unless you tell me first what this is all about.”

“Dad!” Mack exclaimed.

“I’d rather you just send in the cavalry, Andy!” Stark said.

“Is this some kind of new weapon you’ve created?” Andrew anxiously inquired.

“Hartford!”

“Just tell me, Tony!”

“Dad, he’s…!”

“IT’S ME! I’M THE ‘UNMANNED ROBOT’!”

Andrew’s mouth had gaped open, as well as those of the others (except for Mack and Ronny). Several questions ran through their minds, as they wondered how long Stark had been busy with this new toy of his.

“Jarvis, send them the schematics!” Tony ordered his personal computer.

The designs of Tony Stark’s “Mark III” armor appeared on the computer before them faster than the blink of an eye. It was so impressive to stare in the 3D format that it appeared in that they almost lost track of why they were looking at it. What had snapped them out of their trance was the urgent voice of Tony Stark, who sounded as if he was in great pain.

“Now would you please get your Crayola asses over here, before Rhodey and his Air Force blow me out of the sky!”

Andrew’s track of mind was lost after this startling revelation, and he absolutely was not certain of what to do at the moment. Realizing this, Mack stepped forward and did what he did best: leading his team. “Come on, Rangers! Let’s get on the S.H.A.R.C. and save Tony Stark!”

Half of the team was just as perplexed as Andrew, but they were able to keep a leveled head long enough to follow Mack out of the headquarters and go along with the plan. Andrew remained where he was, staring directly at the magnificent armor on his computer. A part of him jealously thought at that moment: He stole my idea!

And it did not really help that much with Spencer coming up from behind and saying, “It truly is a remarkable invention, isn’t it, sir?”

“Go clean something, Spencer.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It did not take any more than twenty minutes just for the Power Rangers to reach the skies above the Edwards Air Force Base, where the “iron man” who turned out to be Tony Stark was doing his best to elude two USAF F-22 Raptors that were chasing him through the clouds. The two planes, designated as Viper One and Two, were attempting to close so that they could make visual contact and have some imagery that was clearer than grainy satellite shots back at base.

Through the frequency that Rose was able to pick up on the S.H.A.R.C.’s speakers, the Rangers were able hear everything the pilots and the people at Edwards were saying. “Ballroom Control, this is Viper One and Two checking in. UAV is in sight.”

“UAV?” A confused Dax remarked.

“Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Dax.” Rose told him.

“Oh.” He uttered. “But don’t they have any clue that it’s really Mr. Stark?”

“No, and we can’t let them know, otherwise it’ll ruin his reputation more than it’s already been.” Ronny stated, as she looked ahead at the two Raptors, which were having a difficult time keeping up with the red-and-gold streak that was Tony Stark.

“Locked on. Locked on,” One of the Raptors stated. The Rangers knew exactly what he meant, and they tried to think of something quick before…

Too late.

Viper One fired a Sidewinder missile at its target, which in return opened a hatch in his belt section and countermeasures were triggered. Chaff unspooled from the armor and, as Tony angled away, the missile struck the chaff and erupted in a ball of fire. Tony kept going, not having to glance behind him to know the two Raptors remained on his tail; his HUD was doing a fine job of keeping him apprised of that disastrous little fact. The Raptors remained glued to him, despite an array of dizzying evasive measures.

“We’ve got to find some way to keep them off of him.” Mack suggested, and he turned to Ronny, who had been piloting the S.H.A.R.C. at that time. “Fly in front of them. Let’s get them knowing that they’re not dealing with just one unidentified vehicle.”

Ronny nodded in confirmation, and she piloted the aircraft towards the two Raptors. She circled around them not just once, but twice. After the second time, the two pilots quickly caught her attention and immediately filled in the people back at base.

“Ballroom Control, we have another unidentified aircraft flying within our vicinity!” Viper Two exclaimed with surprise. “This one’s bigger than the UAV.”

At the Edwards Air Force Base, Rhodey stood in the Combined Air Operations Center with the major and several technicians, watching the entire confrontation via the electronic readouts. Once he and the others spotted the aircraft that had passed in front of the Raptors, they instantly recognized it.

“That’s Andrew Hartford’s S.H.A.R.C.” Rhodey said. “I hope he sent his Ranger team here on investigation, because I hate to believe that he has some part in this.”

“For his sake, I do, too.” The major uttered.

A lieutenant from the main monitoring console suddenly turned to Rhodes and called out, “Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, I have Andrew Hartford calling.”

“Put him through.”

The call fed directly into Rhodey’s headset. “Rhodey, call off your planes! The unmanned vehicle…it’s…it’s…it’s me, Rhodey!”

Rhodes had been caught off guard with this news, looking at the screens that displayed the red-and-gold object that had been soaring through the skies. He doubted himself for a while, believing this thing to be Tony Stark in some sort of high-tech armor. Only he was right about the what, but way off on the whom.

“What’re you doing with that thing, man?” He whispered into the headset.

“I’m…uh…handling a flight simulation with the Rangers.” Andrew replied. “Just please call off your jets! I don’t want to hurt them before they hurt me!”

Rhodey felt as if he were at a crossroads with what to do. There he was, standing between his job and his conscience. The major who stood right next to him turned and focused his attention on him. “You’ve got something, Rhodes?”

Having no other choice, Rhodey turned to the major and said, “Hartford says it’s him. He’s wearing some kind of high-tech armor, and it’s part of a flight simulation that he’s handling with the Power Rangers.” He then turned to the lieutenant at the main monitoring console and ordered, “Call off the Raptors. Tell them that their target is Andrew Hartford.”

The lieutenant couldn’t believe what he was hearing any more than the major had. But, seeing as how Rhodey was the one getting the confirmation here, he carried out the order.

Inside the S.H.A.R.C., the Rangers listened as the lieutenant’s order was heard through the speakers. When he identified Andrew Hartford as being the one whom the Raptors were pursuing, the Rangers looked to each other with a great deal of confusion. Mack especially was troubled by this misinformation, but only for a moment. Once he realized what was going on, he shook his head in despair and sighed with disappointment.

“You just couldn’t let it go, could you, Dad?”


END OF CHAPTER TEN

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Eleven


A massive crowd of reporters had gathered at the front lawn of the Hartford Mansion, desperate to get answers to a fleet of questions they had for Andrew. Even one 30-year-old reporter who came all the way from The Daily Bugle in New York City was anxious to get the scoop. Her name was Donna K. Thomas, and not only did she have a 10-year experience on the job to back her up, she also had gorgeous looks in addition. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a slender physique that was covered by tight blue jeans and a black blouse were enough to get Andrew Hartford’s attention right away. Unfortunately, the man himself was not there at the front door. Instead, it was some old butler.

“Mr. Hartford is not taking any questions at the moment!” Spencer exclaimed. “So you all might as well go home!”

Donna urgently stepped forward, sticking her tape recorder in Spencer’s face. “Well, if Hartford can’t answer any questions, then maybe you can, since you’re like the Alfred Pennyworth of this story.” That one comment from Donna made Spencer flustered for a moment. “How long has Hartford being posing as this ‘Iron Avenger’?”

“Young lady, I am just as shocked as you and everyone else here is about Mr. Hartford’s double life.” Spencer said. “If I knew how long he was the ‘Iron Avenger’, as you so creatively described him, then I would provide enough information to get you all off this lawn permanently. But, unfortunately, I do not know anything, so please…LEAVE!”

And with that, the front door to the mansion hastily closed. Donna and all of the other reporters there began to walk away, feeling disgruntled and as if they had completely wasted their time. But Donna wasn’t giving up so easily. She attempted to find an open window or something that she could crawl through—even though she knew it would be trespassing and could be thrown in jail for it.

Before she could have done so, however, her cell phone rang in the left pocket of her jeans. She reached inside and pulled it out, seeing her brother’s name (Sean Thomas) on the caller ID. Rolling her eyes, she pressed “Send” and spoke into the receiver. “Yeah, bro. What’s up?”

“Don’t trespass!” were the only words that came through the speaker.

“Hey, I’ve been in this business since you were in middle school, so don’t tell me to…” Before she could even finish, she heard a click and then a dial tone, which pretty much meant the conversation was over. “Argh!” Donna loved her job, but she loved her brother more. But she also had a huge ego. Then again, she had an equally huge conscience to match. “Man! I’m the oldest! Why can’t I sound that responsible?”

Making her final decision, Donna had chosen to walk away and forget about the “Iron Man” story. She wondered, while walking across the Hartford Mansion lawn, if the “Spider-Man” situation in Manhattan was still up for grabs. It dawned upon her to quicken her pace, hoping she would make it back home in time to beat Peter Parker to the punch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spencer kept his eyes on Donna as she walked away, making sure she was good and gone before returning to his duty. He was glad that she had decided not to try and sneak into the mansion, because he did want to be forced to send the robots out on her.

Meanwhile, Mack and the other Rangers had been standing near the front door with Andrew by their side, listening to the rowdy reporters outside. All of this attention was more than Andrew could bear, and he wondered the same question that Mack had suddenly asked just then, “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking to spare Tony Stark of all this.” Andrew replied. “The man went through enough with you guys in Afghanistan; he doesn’t need people on his back about this.”

“But telling them that you are ‘Iron Man’?” Mack remarked.

Andrew studied the look he was giving him for a while, and he recognized that “I’m on to you” look right off the bat. Feeling like the jig was up, he came out and said, “Alright. I lied because I was jealous.”

“Jealous?” Rose uttered. “Of what?”

“Of the suit’s design.” Andrew said. “I had thought up the same thing for you all: indestructible armor that couldn’t be penetrated by even the most powerful of forces.” He then led the Rangers into his study, where he pulled out the blueprints for their new battle armor. “See how it almost matches with Tony’s armor? The only difference is how it resembles your uniforms.”

The Ranger admitted that there was a strong similarity between the two. But it still was not excuse for Andrew taking credit of being something that he wasn’t. “Dad, why didn’t you tell Tony about this before that incident in Afghanistan?” Mack asked.

“With all that we’ve been through as of late with Flurious and Moltor, there was no time for talk.” Andrew answered. “I thought there would be after he got back, but I guess fate just got in the way.”

Ronny was starting to put two and two together as she heard this. “So that’s why you were so upset when Tony decided not to build any more weapons.”

“It wasn’t that I was upset. A part of me actually felt glad that Stark was taking a new direction with his company.” Andrew stated. “But another part of me hoped he was just pulling our legs and that there was still a chance to get the job done before our next search.”

“Well, maybe you could talk to him now.” Tyzonn suggested. “I’m sure he could still make them for you.”

Andrew chuckled. “After what I’ve done to his reputation? I doubt if he would even help me with a hydrogen bomb.”

“You’re making a hydrogen bomb? Cool!” Dax enthusiastically said.

“I was being sarcastic, Dax.” Andrew said, and Dax nodded in understanding.

Just then, Spencer appeared in the room with a houseguest by his side. “Sir, Mr. Tony Stark is here to see you. And might I add, he seems to be dressed for a different occasion.”

Tony tried not to laugh at that comment, while Andrew acknowledged Spencer’s announcement. “Thanks, Spencer.” As the butler departed from the room, Tony approached the group with a smile on his face.

“Well,” he began, “I think we can all say that this has been one hell of a week, hasn’t it?”

Immediately, Andrew put himself at the defense. “Tony, I’m sorry for what I did. I was just telling the Rangers—”

“Relax, Andy. I know why you did it.” Stark said, much to the surprise of Andrew and the others. “In fact, I should be thanking you right now, because you’ve given me the perfect cover I need, while I’m handling a private investigation.”

“Investigation?” Mack said.

“A few nights ago at the Disney Concert Hall, I was told by Obadiah Stane himself that he was filing an injunction against me.” Stark informed. “He believes he can control Stark Industries better than I can.”

The Rangers and Hartford could barely believe what they were hearing. “That’s ridiculous.” Mack said. “Is this all because you decided not to make weapons anymore?”

“I think it’s more than just that, Red.” Stark said. “I have reason to believe Stane has been after this company long before Dad even handed it over to me. Who else do you think shipped those weapons over to that village we saved?”

Andrew was beginning to feel guiltier over his recent actions each time Tony filled him in with this new information. He knew that he had to redeem himself in some way, which was why he suddenly asked, “Is there some way I can help you in your investigation?”

“Oh, no offense, but trust me when I say you’ve done enough, Andy.” Stark uttered, as he was heading out of the study.

Quickly, Andrew chased after him and even blocked his path out of the room. “If I can’t actually be ‘Iron Man’, then maybe I can still be the hero in this somehow.”

“This isn’t about being a hero, Andy.” Tony said. “This is about protecting the people that I put in harm’s way. That’s why I’m the only capable one of handling it.”

Stark tried walking around Andrew, but he continued to stand in his way and protest. “We were almost partners once, Tony. Both of our intellect combined, we could’ve solved all of the world’s problems. But then our lives halted any plans we could’ve shared: your father died and I was forced to create ‘Operation Overdrive’ to prevent the world from coming to an end. Now it seems like we’re working for that same cause we aimed at years ago, only its greater this time.” He then looked towards Mack and smiled. “Funny how it took me so long to realize that.”

“Yeah, you’re usually the quick one.” Stark bantered, and they all chuckled for a minute, before Tony finally made up his mind. “Alright. You want in on this? I’m just as game as you are.” He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device about the size of a jump drive, handing it over to Andrew. “I need you to go to my office over at Stark Industries and hack into my computer. In there, you’ll find Obadiah’s account information. The drive will do all the work, so all you’ll have to do is sit there and watch.”

“Got it.” Andrew said, as he stared at the hack drive.

“I have to warn you, Andy. You’ll be getting yourself into a world of trouble if Obadiah catches you with—”

“Don’t worry, Tony. He won’t be able to catch me…if he’s already there.”

Everyone just stared at Andrew with confusion after he said that. It was only until the Rangers remembered the “Lady Penelope Easterbrook-Smythe” incident that they completely understood what Andrew Hartford might’ve had up his sleeve at that moment.


END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Twelve


That afternoon at Stark Industries, the security guard at the front desk was not as hard at work as most thought he would be. In front of him was a quartet of monitors, each displaying different areas of the complex, from Tony Stark’s office to Obadiah Stane’s. Both of the particular offices were empty at that point in time, so the security guard didn’t worry too much about keeping watch over them. He instead focused on a fifth monitor, which displayed a basketball tournament game that he had been longing to see for some time.

Between cheers, the front entrance doors had flown open, and a man wearing a beige custom-made business suit entered. It was no ordinary man. It was Obadiah Stane, who most that were familiar with his daily schedule would’ve known that he was supposed to have been there much later. However, in the case of the security guard at the front desk, it seemed like just the average run-of-the-mill visit.

As Stane walked by the front desk, the guard moved his focus away from the monitor and towards Stane, smiling and waving. “Good afternoon, Mr. Stane. Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Not as beautiful as the Lakers winning that tournament.” Stane said.

The guard chuckled. “I’ll say.”

Obadiah Stane headed to the nearest elevator he could find and pressed the “Up” button. He gazed at the display above the elevator door and noticed that there were five floors in the complex. While waiting on the elevator to reach the first one (where he was currently at), his hands went up to his face and pressed up against, making an unusual, artificial squishy sound. Finally, there was a dinging noise and the elevator door opened up for Stane. Even as he stepped inside, he continued “massaging” his face and making the same bizarre noises with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Stane entered Tony Stark’s office and sat down at his computer. He fired it up, brought it online, and then pulled out a hack drive from the pocket inside his jacket. Even though Stane was alone in the office, he looked left and right as if someone might spring out of the walls. His hands trembled as he jacked the hacking device into the port. The screen on Tony’s computer flickered. Seconds later, Obadiah’s own account came up and flashed past him, as the hacking device sliced through his personal passwords, firewalls, and security nets.

“Bingo.” Stane uttered in a voice that was not his own.

He glanced toward the door, certain that he heard someone coming just as he spoke. Stane waited for what seemed like minutes but was, in actuality, only seconds, and then the sounds of footsteps faded away. He let out a long sigh of relief and then got busy.

Stane had brought a small cardboard box with him and quickly began loading Tony’s personal items into the box. As he did so, he kept glancing at the monitor. The hacking device had struck deep into the heart of the system, like a mosquito, and now it was drawing the lifeblood straight out of his hard drive.

Suddenly it slammed to a halt and his heart jumped until a prompt appeared on the screen. It took him a moment to remember that this was exactly what was supposed to be happening. Using the cursor, he moved the arrow to the “Copy All” command and clicked on it. “Copy everything,” he said.

Items began to scroll past. It was moving at incredible speed, but “Obadiah” was still able to discern things in generalities. There were orders for Jericho missiles and shipping manifests—manifests for things that had not gone into the hands of the army or any branch of the United States Armed Forces. They were instead private organizations, and “Obadiah” was willing to bet that they were all fronts. Siphoning businesses, dummy corporations, the purpose of which was to keep terrorists stocked with weaponry.

“What are you doing, Obadiah?” he muttered in astonishment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the front desk, the security guard continued cheering on for the winning team, as his eyes were glued to that fifth monitor. On the one next to it, there was Obadiah Stane inside Tony Stark’s office, working away on his computer. The guard had paid no mind to it, since—for one—there was much happening on the fifth monitor and it was none of his business.

Amongst the sound of the screaming fans on television, the guard heard the front door open again and (on instinct) his eyes went up to it. He saw another man, dressed exactly the same as how Stane was earlier, come in. After this, he went right back to the game on television. Then that instinct kicked in again, and his eyes went back towards the door. For a moment, he wondered if he was seeing things or might’ve not been getting enough sleep. Whatever the case was, whom he saw in front of him was no allusion. It was actually Obadiah Stane…in the flesh.

Passing by the front desk, Obadiah stopped for a moment and realized how the guard was staring at him. “What is it?” he asked, and the guard was speechless, leaving Stane to ask again (only more sternly), “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Finally, the guard was able to answer. “B-Because I thought you w-were in your office, s-sir.”

“How the hell could I be here and in my office at the same time?” Stane inquired, sounding very harsh.

The guard again found himself speechless, and all he could do to back himself up was point to the monitor that displayed the inside of Tony Stark’s office. Stane walked over to the desk, feeling annoyed with these inappropriate games that the guard was playing with him. Once his eyes focused on that monitor, he nearly collapsed as he saw himself on the screen, sitting at Stark’s desk and working on his computer.

“Son of a bitch!” Stane exclaimed, right before he turned to the guard. “Call security and have them meet me upstairs!”

As Stane moved away from the desk, the guard was about to acknowledge his order, until he noticed something on the fifth monitor. “Hey! The Lakers just won the tournament!”

“WHO GIVES A DAMN?!” Stane yelled from down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside Tony’s office, the man impersonating Obadiah Stane caught something on the computer screen, which was now an exact duplicate of the screen in Stane’s office. He noticed a video clip icon with what appeared to be Arabic text underneath. Not wanting to wait for the download to be completed, he moved the arrow and double-clicked on the icon.

When he saw the result, he gasped and was nearly sick to his stomach.

It was a grainy video clip of Tony, who looked half dead and was tied to a chair. The front of his tattered shirt was covered with a dark stain that was unquestionably his blood. Several insurgents were in view and there was a flag behind them with ten interlocking rings.

They were talking angrily in their native language. “Translate,” he ordered the computer, which contained audio response technology in addition to standard functions.

The clip continued to play, but the translation issued from the monitors. It was a bizarre disconnect between what he was seeing—the man on the screen was ranting like a maniac—and what he was hearing: the computer speaking in a calm, detached electronic voice.

“Obadiah Stane, you have deceived us! The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up.”

The man on the screen continued to complain about a variety of issues that, even translated into English, didn’t make a whole lot of sense to the person sitting at the computer. More items were scrolling past, in the meantime. Schematics for something that looked vaguely like Tony’s armor, but it was labeled “Iron Monger.” The name meant nothing to him, and he knew that he had at least a passing familiarity with every project currently under development at Stark Industries. Layouts for a room lined with pipes. It looked familiar; he thought it might be the sub-basement at the Arc generator—

“ACK!” He suddenly uttered, as his body was shot through with paralyzing pain. A figure stood before him, glaring down at him and smiling dementedly. It was the real Obadiah Stane, who was wearing some sort of electronic filter in his ear. It was at that moment that he remembered the sonic taser that Tony Stark had designed for undercover police officers. It shut down his entire nervous system, and he sank down in the chair, staring straight ahead and twitching spasmodically but otherwise unable to move.

Stane placed the taser down on the table and then crouched in front of his imposter, as if he were a friend talking him through some sort of an attack. “Easy now. Try to breathe.” He then reached up over the imposter’s head, which was as shockingly clean-shaven as his, and grabbed a handful of his “skin.” With one fast and fierce tug, he tore away this man’s skin, revealing another layer underneath. It was just as Stane had suspected: a phony and yet clever disguise, worn by none other than Andrew Hartford.

Obadiah stared at the shredded skin in his hands, not a bit horrified by the irony of his ruined image in his very grasp. He just chuckled at it, amazed that something undoubtedly designed by someone outside of Stark Industries even saw the light of day. He almost wished he had thought of it first, so that he would get his job done a lot faster.

“So…the famous ‘Iron Avenger’ is here at Stark Industries, trying to dig up some dirt on me.” Stane said, his smile not fading at all. “I must admire your enthusiasm, Mr. Hartford. After all these years, knowing the type of man you are, I would have never thought you’d put yourself in harm’s way. And for what? The purpose of exposing someone who’s at a higher level than you are? If that’s the case, then you should’ve stuck with helping your precious Power Rangers fight evil monsters from another dimension.” Obadiah then leaned closer to Andrew’s face, as if he was searching through his eyes for the truth. “You’re not the one who saved that village, like they’re saying in the news. I’ve seen Tony Stark’s work…and it’s not yours.”

Stane was about to go on exposing Andrew, just as he tried to expose him, but he was soon interrupted by a group of men who had entered the office. It was the team of security guards that he had ordered a while ago. If only they had come a little later, he would have tried to get some more information out of Hartford. Not about who “Iron Man” really was—he already figured that out, after his “unpleasant” visit to Afghanistan recently. He needed to know how to duplicate the same Arc generator that was implanted in Stark’s chest. But even if he tried, Hartford would not tell him what he needed to know—even if he did know. That’s why he had no other alternative than to kill him…but not right now.

“Take him to the laboratory beneath the Arc reactor building.” Stane ordered the guards. “I’ll deal with him in due time.”

These guards were not paid to ask questions. And even though Stane’s request was questionable, they had no other choice than to do as they were instructed. So, carrying out their orders, they moved over to Hartford and handcuffed him, taking his barely conscious body out of the room. As they had done so, Stane again stared at the phony skin in his hands. All he could ponder at that point was: What was Tony Stark doing at this minute?


END OF CHAPTER TWELVE

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Thirteen


Late that night at the Hartford Mansion, Spencer and the Rangers were waiting patiently for Andrew to contact them, letting them know that the mission was a success. However, that update should have been sent to them hours ago, considering it was three o’clock when Andrew left, and (according to Stark) it only takes half an hour to hack into his computer and obtain the information they needed on Obadiah Stane.

Mack was tensely pacing back and forth around the room, while the other Rangers tried doing more recreational things to ease their own tensions. Ronny, while playing some pool with Dax and Will, noticed the way Mack had been pacing and grinned. “You’re going to put a hole in the floor, Mack.” She said.

“Dad should’ve gotten back to us by now.” Mack said. “And it isn’t like him to be so late doing things.”

“He and Tony Stark are probably at his place, working up some brilliant idea to stop Stane.” Rose assumed. “They’re both pretty smart guys after all.”

Mack just shook his head negatively, as he stared out the window and into the partially lit atmosphere outside. They always had made sure to throw up the lawn lights to avoid getting lost out there at night. He hoped on this occasion that they would do his father some good, as he returned home. But the more he looked outside, the more he wondered if something was wrong.

Spencer walked up behind Mack and placed a relaxed hand on his tensed shoulder. “Sir, if I might make a suggestion of my own, it would seem rather proper to assume that your father is keeping himself someplace safer, in order to avoid gaining attention more rash than the media. He is, after all, the most popular man in the news as of right now.”

Mack admitted that Spencer might’ve had a point. If he were in his father’s position right now, he would search for the nearest rock he could find and crawl under it. It would only seem like the wisest thing to do. But, then again, wouldn’t he have at least informed someone about it rather than leave them worried for hours and hours?

Suddenly the phone in Andrew’s study rang, and Spencer (as usual) went to answer it. The voice on the other end was familiar and identifiable to Spencer. It was none other than James Rhodes, whose voice sounded very urgent. “Is Tony Stark there right now?”

“No, sir, Mr. Rhodes.” Spencer answered. “I do believe he is at home right now.” He paused for a second, wondering if there was another “missing person case” happening here. “Might I ask what the trouble is?”

“Pepper Potts called me just a few minutes ago and told me that Tony and Hartford have been doing some investigating on Obadiah Stane, because he’s gone insane or something.” Rhodey said. “I’m trying to contact him right now, but he’s not answering.”

Spencer noticed something at the corner of his eye and glanced to his left to see the Rangers standing at the doorway, listening in on the conversation. From what they were able to pick up, it sounded like something indeed was wrong. “Have you tried going to his home?” The butler asked.

“Doing that right now, since you suggested it.” Rhodey replied.

“Well, don’t worry. I’m sure he’s there.” Spencer said, looking away from the Rangers at one moment and then the next finding out that they had already disappeared, obviously going to Stark’s place themselves. “And I’m sure some other friends will be there, too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to Tony Stark’s living room burst open on the first push that Mack had given it on his way in, causing shards of wood to fly everywhere. Rhodey and the other Rangers followed him, and together they all looked around frantically, seeing furniture overturned and, worse, no sign of Tony Stark.

“Tony! Tony!” They all screamed in unison. “Where are you?”

They ran to the stairs that led down into the workshop. When they got there, Rhodey stopped and was obviously shocked by what could only be termed a hall of armor. There was the suit that he recognized from the pursuit of the Raptors, still battle scarred with bullet dents and scorch marks. His head was suddenly filled with a series of questions, as he stared at components for another model: helmets, gloves, boots, and prototypes for future developments. It soon dawned upon him that Andrew Hartford might’ve lied about being “Iron Man.” The real one here was Tony Stark.

“Hey!” Tyzonn exclaimed. “I think I hear some movement behind the worktable.” He pointed directly to it, and they all dashed behind that area to find Tony Stark, lying on the floor and looking like he’d been given mouth to mouth by a vampire.

“Give him some room!” Rhodey told the others, as he dropped next to Stark, while shouting his name. His hands reflexively hovered over Tony’s chest, about to administer CPR, and then he stared down at the miniature Arc generator. Ronny had also stared at it and seemed to have found something odd about it.

“The device on his chest,” She said, “It’s not the same one that we saw a few days ago.”

Mack glanced at her strangely. “What do you mean?”

“Look at it.” She told him, and he did so, as she continued, “It’s the old model from when we were in the cave.”

Mack suddenly realized that she was right. The miniature Arc generator that Tony had recently been using was an updated model, designed not only to keep his heart running longer than the one before it would’ve, but also help power up his new armor. To see it inserted in his chest now, he knew that someone must have stolen the updated Arc generator and tried to leave Tony for dead. That someone was nonetheless Obadiah Stane.

Man! What a sick thing to do, he thought.

Rhodey resorted to grabbing Tony by the shoulders, shaking him violently while continuing to shout his name. For long moments, there was no response, and then Tony’s eyelids flickered. “Oh, great…an earthquake,” he muttered.

Rose chuckled happily. “Mr. Stark…Thank goodness! We thought you might’ve been—”

“I almost was. I may yet be,” He said as he sat up with a low grunt. “Obadiah’s got Hartford. I think he’s got him somewhere at Stark Industries, ‘cause he mentioned something about tying up loose ends right after he got his ‘creation’ functioning.”

Mack’s fears had been confirmed. And now that they were, he felt extremely determined to go out and confront the man who kidnapped his father and tried to kill his friend. “Well, there’s seven of us and only one of him. I know it doesn’t sound like a fair fight, but in Stane’s case, we’ll make an exception.”

“Believe it or not, Red. That’s not going to be enough.” Tony said, as he led them to a section of the workshop that none of them had ever seen until that very moment. “You’re going to need to be better equipped, if you plan on helping me deal with Stane and save your old man.”

“Why’s that?” Will asked. “It’s not like he’s got some supped-up armor of his own to fight with.”

“Actually he does.” Stark said. “And it’s a thousand times more advanced than mine, even though it’s based on the model I created while in that cave.”

The Rangers were surprised to have heard of this and wondered for a moment what they should do. But before any of them could have asked, they stopped and gasped at a remarkable sight before them in Tony’s “secret room”: encased in enormous glass cylinders were six colorful sets of high-tech armor that almost resembled Tony’s “Mark III” armor. They were designed to closely resemble the uniforms of the Power Rangers. This was how Andrew Hartford intended it.

“Aw, sweet!” Ronny exclaimed.

Rose could barely even talk, as she gazed at the new “Iron Ranger” armors. “H-How were you able to make these?! Mr. Hartford didn’t even show you his blueprints!”

“No, he didn’t.” Tony said with a smile. “I just peeked.”

Mack smiled himself, not once taking his eyes off the armors. “Ha! Stane doesn’t stand a chance against us now!” He then turned to his team and said, “C’mon, Rangers! Let’s do this!”

They were about to walk towards the armors in an attempt to try them on, until Tony stepped in front of them and raised his hands up in protest. “Actually, before any of you try any butt-kicking with these new toys, you might want to read the instructions first.” Then he handed each of them massive booklets that had to be at least sixty pages long. The Rangers were wide-eyed as they stared at the booklets and then at Tony, who jokingly grinned and said, “Gotcha.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With help from robotic arms and other bits of machinery that Stark’s workshop was filled with, it did not take very long for the Power Rangers to suit up in their new armor and become the “Iron Rangers” that they all playfully agreed to call themselves. Inside each of their helmets, there were HUD displays that were just as detailed as the one in Tony’s. The displays taught them more about their new suits than the instruction booklets would’ve, and in only a short period of time.

“This is intense!” Dax exclaimed. “I feel like Optimus Prime…or maybe even Bumblebee…I’m not exactly sure which of the two.”

The group made a series of soft clanks from inside Tony’s lab, as they stepped out in their armors. They accompanied Tony, who was clad in his red and gold armor, while holding a helmet in his hands.

Rhodey just shook his head as he looked at him. “So you are ‘Iron Man’? Son of a bitch! I knew it from the moment I saw your armor on the monitors back at Edwards.” In all his years in the army, of all the weapons he’d witnessed in action, Rhodey had never seen anything quite as terrifying as the sight before him now.

“Speaking of which, we’re going to need you to keep the skies clear long enough to stop Stane and rescue Hartford.” Stark said. “The boys back at base are going to be seeing one hell of a light show within an hour, and we can’t afford any interference.”

“Gotcha.” Rhodey affirmed.

Tony lowered the helmet over his head and it clicked into place. The eyes lit up and there was the sound of energy building. Rhodey took a step back, while Tony and the Iron Rangers looked upward. Two seconds later, their boots ignited and they were blasted straight up through the ceiling, sending debris raining down. Rhodey shielded his face from it even as he thought, Wonder how the hell Tony pays for this much repair?

Rhodey stared after his friends, impressed. Then he noticed that the earlier version of Tony’s armor was still there. It was battered, but perhaps it was still functioning. He stared at it for a moment, wanting to try it on. But then he just nodded his head, gave a little smile, and said, “Next time, baby.”


END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN

[PuroresuNexus]

Awesome story CyberRanger and keep doing your great work!

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Fourteen

Andrew could not stop looking to his left and his right, as he was handcuffed to one of the many pipes inside the subbasement room. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was Stane’s security dragging him away from Tony Stark’s office. When he regained consciousness, that’s when he found himself surrounded by a metal jungle of vats, machines, armored limbs, and metal guts hanging from tethers. He also noticed utility pipes lining the walls, like oversized metal veins.

“This place is like a morgue for Transformers.” Andrew uttered, just as he heard a loud explosion from his right. At first he panicked, resorting to measures as desperate as breaking the pipe in order to slide his way to freedom, before whoever it was that caused the explosion arrived.

But then, Andrew heard a familiar voice that echoed throughout the room, “Sir! Are you down there?”

“Spencer!” Andrew screamed, his own voice echoing through the room, and not for very long, Spencer arrived to his location. But he didn’t come alone. By his side at that time was the original protector of the Corona Aurora. His golden form seemed to stand out in the dark atmosphere, as he approached the captured Hartford and instantly severed his handcuffs with one swipe.

“We must leave immediately!” Sentinel Knight exclaimed. “I sense great danger nearby!”

Andrew nodded in agreement. “I’ve got this strange feeling there’s something here with…” He suddenly stopped, just as soon as he heard some faint movement in the shadows. They looked closely and carefully to find whatever it was that made the noise, until something came clear as a bell to them: a pair of glowing eyes.

“Good heavens!” Spencer cried, before the whirring of hydraulics and grinding metal drowned his words.

“Take cover!” Sentinel Knight told the two humans. “I’ll handle this metal monstrosity!”

Hartford and Spencer didn’t have to think twice about that idea, spinning around and trying to run from the scene. The Sentinel Knight leaped off the ground and towards the metal attacker, only to be snatched while in midair and thrown across the room, smacking against a concrete wall.

Meanwhile, Hartford and Spencer reached the exit. They staggered and nearly fell, but were able to catch themselves on the railing for the stairwell that led up to the exit. They were partway up the stairs when they began to shake violently under their feet.

“Whatever you do, Spencer, don’t look back!” Andrew cautioned.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir!” Spencer remarked.

Andrew remembered the diagrams that had said “Iron Monger” in the files, and now something of that general shape and form was barreling down the corridor at them, with an ominous and familiar glow emanating from its chest. He couldn’t make out the details, and had no desire to be close enough to do so. Both him and Spencer sprinted up the stairwell, taking two steps at a time. They were almost to the top when the Iron Monger reached the bottom. Only it was too wide for the stairwell and wound up crashing into it, sending up a shower of debris.

There was an angry whine and then a roar of hydraulics, and even as the two men tried to tell themselves that this couldn’t be Obadiah Stane, a voice bellowed from the armor, distorted but still recognizable. “Get back here!”

As the Iron Monger furiously started tearing at the cement, grinding against the stairwell to get after Hartford and Spencer, they shoved open the door at the top of the stairs and stumbled through. They slammed the door behind them and turned to see where they were. As it turned out, they were in the main reactor room, with the long-dormant Arc reactor sitting not ten feet away.

“Have we lost him, sir?” Spencer asked, while trying to catch his breath.

“For now, at least.” Hartford replied, as he realized there was no sound from behind them, but knew that it wasn’t going to last. Stane would be after them, and he wasn’t going to let this go. He’d gone power mad, tromping around in the Iron Monger armor and annihilating everyone and anyone who was in his way. For a moment, Andrew wondered if the Sentinel Knight was still doing what he could to stop Stane and his machine. If there was one thing he wasn’t, that was a quitter. “Rangers, please don’t fail us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony and the Rangers hurtled through the air, wishing to hell that he had somehow managed to invent a matter transporter device so that he or anyone else could just magically appear where they were needed. Despite the speed with which he and the Rangers were moving, it was like every second that had passed was a nail being hammered into Andrew Hartford’s coffin.

What was worse was that he felt as if the armor was actually beginning to slow. That much was certain from the way the “Iron Rangers” were flying ahead of him—which was odd, considering their armors were a little less advanced than his own. He checked the HUD and discovered that he was not imagining things; he had lost about five knots off his airspeed. He knew he was not responsible for it. “Jarvis, what the hell! This is no time to shift me into low gear!”

“‘Time’ is actually the consideration, sir. It is not something that you have in abundance, not with your earlier model generator in place. I am merely endeavoring to conserve energy.”

“All of the conservation of energy isn’t going to mean a thing if we get there too late to help Hartford!” Tony exclaimed.

Mack turned his head and looked back at Stark; he smiled, but it was unnoticeable with his helmet on. “Don’t worry, Tony. We’ll handle most of the work on Stane. You just focus on finding Dad and getting him to safety.”

“Let me do what I’ve got to do, Red.” Tony said. “There are enough of us to handle more than one task.” He glanced at Mack for a moment and saw him turned his head away from him (almost disappointedly), before he had addressed Jarvis. “Give me the velocity I need. Once I get there, I’ll make it short and sweet and won’t come anywhere close to the generator’s limits.”

“This generator,” Dax began, “Would something extremely horrible happen to us if we got near it?”

Tony took a moment of silence before answering. “No. No, I’m only prone because of the device I have on my chest. If I’m within the perimeters of that generator, this miniature Arc will shut down, and me along with it. Any other non-living thing will result in shut down as well.”

“Including our armor?” Rose inquired.

“Mine, but not yours.” Tony remarked. “Just follow my lead, and I promise your butts will still be intact when it’s all over.” At least, he hoped so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andrew and Spencer were almost anticipating another attack. But it had been too quiet to expect any earth-shattering moves from Obadiah Stane (or “Iron Monger” as he probably wanted to be called at this point). But “earth-shattering” was quickly becoming an understatement, as there was a thump from below them that caused them to lose balance.

Before the two men could pull themselves together, the floor cracked. They looked down in horror and backed away as there was another thump, and then another. Suddenly, something busted through the concrete and soared across the air, before landing hard near a parked vehicle, several feet from where Andrew and Spencer were.

Andrew looked closely at the battered figure and recognized him instantly. “It’s the Sentinel Knight!!” He exclaimed, just before another thump nearly knocked him and Spencer off their feet.

The Iron Monger, unable to navigate the steps, was below them, pounding his way up. Before they could give it enough distance, the concrete cracked wide beneath their feet, sending them sprawling. Soon one of the Iron Monger’s fists came right through the floor, and he pushed away the concrete and steel, pulling himself out of the ground. Finally he rose to his full height, ten feet tall, and he loomed over Andrew and Spencer like a skyscraper. They were gnats compared to the dull gray leviathan.

Andrew glanced at the corner of his eye at the Sentinel Knight, who remained lying face down on the ground, obviously taken one fierce pounding from the Iron Monger. He and Spencer managed to get to their feet and now they were backing up as the Iron Monger slowly advanced on them. He took his time, finding no reason not to; these men had nowhere to go.

Amidst all of the panic, Spencer seemed to have forgotten about one important thing: when he left the mansion after receiving word about Andrew’s whereabouts from James Rhodes, he brought along a cell phone to stay in touch with him, just in case. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he quickly and carefully pressed in the numbers to Tony Stark’s cell phone, hoping he would reach him in time. Within seconds, he heard a voice over the phone that said, “You’ve reached Tony Stark…”

“Mr. Stark!” Spencer exclaimed, as their backs bumped up against the Plexiglas that comprised the outer shield of the Arc reactor.

Before Spencer could tell anything further, Stark interrupted by asking, “What’s Andy’s favorite dish?”

Spencer was completely lost for a moment, wondering why Stark would ask him such a question in the middle of a dire situation. However, once he realized the main point of it, he immediately screamed, “DUCK!”

Neither Andrew nor Spencer didn’t waste time looking around. Instead, they hit the ground, covering their heads. The Iron Monger paused and then jerked his head upward, just in time to see another armored figure dive-bombing straight toward him, through the upper story. With his own built-in Repulsor rays, the ironclad form of Mack Hartford (the Red Operation Overdrive Ranger) smashed into the Iron Monger, sending the two of them crashing back down into the hole from which the Iron Monger had just pulled himself.

Andrew and Spencer stared dumbfounded at where the two gladiators had just gone, while Tony Stark and the other Iron Rangers landed near them. “That kid of yours is a real chore, Andy.” Tony said.

The bewildered expression on Hartford’s face was enough to accompany his remark to Tony’s comment. “That was Mack?” He then looked around at the other five Rangers, noting their ironclad appearances and recognizing them right off the bat. “You used my designs!” He gazed at Tony, feeling surprised and confused at the same time. “But how? I never…”

“He peeked, Mr. Hartford,” said Rose, whom Andrew was always used to staring down at, but due to the armor she was wearing, she appeared to be at eye level with him.

“This is remarkable!” Andrew exclaimed.

Spencer could not take his eyes away from the hole, and he made sure the others were reminded of their current situation. “Sir, as much as I love to admire your work, I believe we should focus on…” Before he could continue any further, alarm klaxons suddenly began to fill the air.

They all looked around for the reason, and to their horror spotted it almost immediately. The atrium glass of the Arc reactor had ruptured outward from the underground impact. Even though the Arc reactor had been generating only minimal output, catastrophic damage to the unit could still cause equally catastrophic results. That was the case now as the impact from both Stane’s entrance and his abrupt and very loud exit cracked the reactor housing.

“This is exactly what I was afraid of.” Tony uttered.

“We have to find Mack and get out of here, before we get caught in the explosion.” Andrew suggested.

“You don’t get it, Andy.” Stark said. “The explosion is enough to take out this entire city! You could run and hide back home, but you’d still be roasted before you could even say ‘It’s Morphin’ Time’!”

Andrew’s eyes widened with shock, as he gazed back up at the melting Arc reactor. “So what do we do?”


END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Fifteen

Mack had fallen through into the subbasement, punching and kicking on the far larger Iron Monger, hoping to find a flaw and end this quickly. He was surprised to have discovered how elegantly he moved, while performing his Martial Art techniques in the ten-ton iron suit. But fighting this robotic monster would be anything but easy. The Iron Monger struck a grating below and crashed through. Mack ricocheted off along the floor and rolled out of control, slamming up against a far wall. He shook it off, clambered to his feet, and started to go in pursuit of the crazed Obadiah Stane. Then he stopped, looked around, and noticed the ruptured pipes, leaking with steam. From what his HUD display had told him, it was the coolant that kept the Arc reactor upstairs within safety levels.

Just then, the comm-link built into his armor, which was what he had been using to speak to the others, snapped to life. On the other end was the voice of Tony Stark. “Red! Red! Are you there?”

“Tony!” Mack responded. “I hear you, loud and clear.”

“Listen to me. We’ve got big problems.”

“Yeah, I know. The Arc reactor’s broken. What do we do?”

He could hear Tony breathing heavily through the link, trying to find an easy solution. “The only way to prevent a meltdown is to overload the reactor and discharge the excess power.”

“And which of us is the smartest to do that?”

“Well, obviously me.” Rose’s voice was heard through Mack’s helmet, sounding very proud and assured.

“Sorry, kid.” Tony said. “But your fingers aren’t as delicate as they are outside the armor.”

Then Mack heard his father say, “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Tony remarked. “I can guide you…”

“No. I’m familiar with how it’s done. I’ve visited this area enough to know how the system works.” Hartford said. “Just make sure my son survives this fight.”

There was silence over the speakers briefly, before Tony’s heavy breathing could be heard, following his distraught voice. “Alright. Just wait for my signal. Got it?”

“Got it.” Andrew acknowledged.

Tony had instructed Mack to do something himself, shortly after Andrew had agreed to the plan. However, Stane’s mechanized voice drowned out Tony’s voice over the comm-link, as it floated from all around the Red Ranger. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Stane was making his way through the pipe room. It was impossible to get a sense of where he was, although obviously he had managed to make his way up from below.

Mack swept the steel maze with his infrared, but the perforated pipes and the blasts of steam, casting red plumes and confusing shadows everywhere, were making it impossible for him to lock in on Stane’s location. “Man! It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack!”

“I don’t get it.” Stane said. “Why are you helping Tony Stark rid the world of weapons, instead of minding your own business?”

“Because it’s none of yours either, Stane!” Mack exclaimed.

“Business is business, my young friend. And you and your old man would be smart to respect that.”

“Oh, yeah? Like the way you ‘respected’ Tony?”

“Tony was being selfish! He built something useful to the world and is keeping it all to himself! Doesn’t he understand what he’s created? This will put the balance of power back in our hands for decades. Our country needs this!”

“What kind of world will it be when everybody’s got one?”

Mack waited for Stane to response, but when he hadn’t, it dawned upon him that he had finally been spotted. He quickly turned around and realized a hair too late that the Iron Monger had emerged from behind some machinery and girders, coming at him like a bullet train.

Before the Iron Monger could reach him, however, Ronny suddenly appeared out of nowhere in her yellow iron suit and kicked him square across the head. The Iron Monger reeled back from the blow and nearly fell down. He took a moment to shake off the cobwebs, surprised how fast the Yellow Ranger came at him, while Ronny checked on Mack.

“You okay?” She asked.

Mack nodded. “Yeah. Your timing’s brilliant.”

All of the sudden, they heard someone shout from above. “Get down!” They realized, without even looking, that it was Tyzonn’s voice, and they had done as they were told. He flew over them at remarkable speed, tackling the Iron Monger off his feet. Together they smashed right through one of the restraining walls that separated the subbasement—elevated on its concrete island—from the highway outside.

They smashed into a tractor-trailer, annihilating the back of the rig, and kept going. They clanged to the asphalt, bouncing once, twice, three times. The air was filled with the screeching of tires and the collision of cars. A hydrogen-powered bus jackknifed, skidding to a halt through the Herculean efforts of a driver who never gave up trying to maintain control of his vehicle.

Car doors were opening everywhere and people were running like mad. No one was hanging around to see how this bizarre fight was going to turn out. They wanted to put as much distance between themselves and it as possible, while two other iron-suited figures (one pink, one blue) tried to get as close as they could.

“That’s Tyzonn!” Rose exclaimed.

“Go, Ty!” Dax yelled, right before they flinched when they watched Tyzonn’s armored form fly through the air and land right on top of a parked, empty vehicle, crushing it to a pancake. “Wow. That was some left hook!”

Rose and Dax then watched in horror as the Iron Monger raised a Volvo station wagon over his head. A terrified mother and her children were inside, trapped. The children were screaming, while the mother was white-knuckling the steering wheel in panic.

“No! Don’t do it!” Dax cried.

“There are children in there!” Rose added.

“People are always going to die,” the Iron Monger informed them, as detached as if he were teaching a lesson on the art of war. “Part of the chess game!”

“Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy,” Dax said, “I don’t play chess!”

While Dax was making his lousy comeback, Rose did her best to think of a quick strategy that would save the people in the car. She looked at her gauntlets, noting the built-in Repulsors. It was then that she got an idea, just in time to see the Iron Monger about to heave the car at her and Dax.

“I don’t thinks so!” She yelled, before the Repulsor rays surged from her gauntlets and slammed into Stane. The Iron Monger was knocked backward, flipping the car in the Rangers’ direction at the last second.

Seeing this, Dax moved as quick as he could and caught the car, grunting under the weight. He tried to set it down, but the leverage was wrong. The armor’s gyros were unable to compensate, Dax’s knees buckled, and he went down under the car. The good news was that he cushioned the impact with his body so that no one in the car was injured. The bad news was that he was pinned under the car.

“Uh-oh! Not good!” He exclaimed.

Then he heard the thin, terrified voice of the boy from within the car shouting, “Go, Mom! Go!”

Before he could disengage himself from the car, the wheels spun and caught, and the car peeled out. Dax was dragged along as the Volvo speeded away, leaving Rose to deal with the approaching Iron Monger all by herself. A shower of sparks blasted out from under him where his armored back was being dragged along the street. The Volvo weaved from side to side, dodging crashed cars and people who were trying to get out of its way.

Meanwhile, Rose was smart enough to rocket herself away from the Iron Monger and chase after Dax, hoping to save his life and hers at the same time. She could hear the thundering footsteps continue to approach, except now they were interspersed with crunches of metal. She looked behind her and noticed how the Iron Monger was using stopped cars like stepping-stones. Man, this guy has no sense of morals over anything, Rose thought.

She looked back towards the street in time to see Dax finally managing to push the car off himself. It speeded away, heading the wrong way up an entrance ramp, with three gaping children staring at the back. Dax smiled (even though his helmet obscured his face) and waved, trying to assure the children that he was in fact the hero in this situation. But it was hard for those kids to make that assumption, when there was a ten-foot steel behemoth coming right behind him.

“Dax! Watch out!” Rose cried from above, and Dax turned in time to see the Iron Monger bounding off the hood of a car and landing only a few yards away. Dax immediately rocketed himself out of the Iron Monger’s path, while another iron figure (Tony Stark) rocketed himself into it.

“Remember me, Obadiah!” Tony screamed, unleashing a barrage of Repulsor blasts that only depleted his suit’s power more than it damaged Stane’s.

Realizing the trouble he was in as he was reeling back from the blast, the Iron Monger resulted to more drastic measures. He noticed a biker, thinking he was going to thread his way through stopped traffic, weaving around a truck and nearly collided with his armor. The biker realized his mistake, but too late. Seeing a weapon, the Iron Monger grabbed the motorbike, sending the biker flying, as he whipped the cycle around and slammed it into the flying gnat that he called Tony Stark.

The blow knocked Tony backward, and his head ringed inside his helmet as he was sent crashing. He skidded to a halt, landing in front of the stopped hydrogen bus. As he had done so, the voice of Andrew Hartford suddenly sounded in his ear: “Tony, it’s not looking good. On the control panel, the monitors are showing the red bars rising.”

He didn’t respond immediately, because he was busy catching his breath. People were still screaming to get out of the way. The Iron Monger stomped toward him, with the ground shaking so fiercely that Tony couldn’t help but wonder if the Iron Monger would inadvertently trigger a fault line. Tony once again tried to bring the Repulsors online, but they were not ready to be fired. He also had no emergency power from which to draw. It was just going to have to recharge, and he didn’t have that kind of time, especially since the Iron Monger had just landed next to him and slammed his booted foot down atop Tony. Stark struggled to dislodge him and couldn’t even begin to do so.

“Let him go!” An electronic female voice yelled, and Stane turned his head to see only five of the Power Rangers land across from him and Tony. He wondered for a minute which one of them was missing, but he couldn’t have cared less at the moment. The Ranger that had addressed him was the Yellow one, whose name he couldn’t remember. “Do it now or we’ll make you!”

Ignoring her warning, he focused back on Tony and started to apply pressure. He clearly intended to crack Tony’s armor like a rotten coconut, having enough power to do it.

“The Arc reactor has been damaged, Obadiah,” Tony said, a desperate appeal to reason. “It’s going to blow up. A lot of people are going to die!”

“Listen to him!” Rose demanded. “He’s telling the truth!”

For all the reaction they got from the man in the Iron Monger mask, they might as well not have said anything. “It didn’t have to end like this, Tony. You were down; you should have stayed down.”

“I could say the same thing about you!” Another electronic voice shouted, this one being more masculine.

The Iron Monger looked up a moment too late to see the missing Power Ranger, the Black one, rocketing in his direction. Before he knew it, the leg he was using to crush Tony had been rammed by the Black Ranger, and he was sent staggering.

“Alright, Will!” Ronny cheered, soon before he landed near them.

Propping himself up on one elbow, Tony watched in astonishment as the Iron Monger lurched, out of control, his vast height working to his disadvantage for the first time. Mack quickly took notice of this and seized the moment to make the final blow.

“It’s over, Iron Monger!” He yelled, before he charged towards him and then leaped across the air, sticking one foot out towards the Iron Monger. He kicked the steel behemoth square in the chest, sending him crashing into the jackknifed abandoned hydrogen, perforating it.

Struggling to free himself, the Iron Monger instead only managed to exacerbate the situation as his groping metal fingers created sparks by scraping across the metal ruins of the bus. The sparks ignited the bus, and a massive fireball erupted, enveloping the Iron Monger. As it all had happened, Mack turned his back from the scene, performing a battle stance in perfect Ranger fashion.

“Damn!” Tony uttered.

Realizing what he had just done, Mack quickly spun back around and looked at the disaster. Nothing was emerging from the conflagration that was the bus. The other Rangers rushed up behind him, all shocked by the result of Mack’s blow to Stane’s armor.

“Mack! You just killed Obadiah Stane!” Dax exclaimed.

“I completely forgot that I wasn’t fighting a typical monster.” Mack said.

“Well, he was technically a monster in that freaky armor of his.” Ronny commented.

Tony then approached the Rangers and said, “I’m not willing to bet money on the fact that he’s dead. And that’s saying a lot coming from me!” The Rangers nodded in agreement with that statement. “The truth is that we’ve got bigger concerns than him right now.”

“That’s right! The Arc reactor!” Rose exclaimed, her hands going to her helmet in shock upon realization.

“What do you want us to do, Tony?” Mack asked.

“Get this area evacuated. I’ll handle the reactor.”

Mack stepped in closer to him. “I can help you!”

“No,” Tony said. “If anything happens to me, then it’s up to the rest of you to make sure Andy gets out while he can.” He placed a hand on Mack’s shoulder with assurance. “A piece of me already died in that cave, Red. It wouldn’t matter to me one bit if the rest vanished into oblivion tonight.”

Mack refused to let those thoughts sink into his mind. He just told himself that Tony would make it out in time with the rest of them. In the meantime, he and the others had to get everyone else away beforehand. “C’mon, Rangers!” And while they dashed off to handle things on the streets, Tony ignited his boosters and hurtled skyward.


END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN

[CyberRanger86]

Chapter Sixteen


“Andy? How’s it going up there?” came Tony’s voice.

“Not looking good, Tony,” he said. “I did everything I could, but it says ‘circuit not complete’.”

“I’ve got to get to the roof. Sit tight.”

As Tony barreled toward the reactor building, he noticed a wave of energy coming off it, like the shimmering of a mirage, except this was not any optical illusion. The clear roof, made from unbreakable Plexiglas, was lined with satellite dishes, intended to channel the reactor’s energy to orbital receiving stations once the reactor became fully functional. The reactor never reached that level of development and so the dishes sat useless, waiting to be pressed into service. But Tony was going to be able to make use of them now. Landing on the roof, he paced it, using his HUD to guide himself to a key length of cable, which he tore up from beneath his feet. Below him the reactor was going insane, heading toward a cataclysmic buildup.

“Power at forty percent and dropping, sir,” said Jarvis. “You need to stop moving entirely for at least half an hour to have any hope of sufficient recharging.”

“Not happening, Jarvis.”

He ripped the cable in half, yanking one end with him. He attached the cable to one of the satellite dishes. Power was pulsing through it with an urgency that would not be ignored.

“Andy, I’m about to complete the circuit. Once I do, it’s going to discharge all the power and channel it up through the roof. Get ready to push the Emergency Master Bypass. But not until I’m off the roof. It’s going to fry everything up here.”

He disengaged his gauntlet and left it affixed to the antenna to hold the cable in place.

“Circuit complete, Tony!” came Andrew’s excited voice. “The screen on the reactor says ‘circuit complete’!”

“Hartford, wait till I get clear, then hit the button.”

Suddenly, there was a thud behind him. For a moment, he hoped that it was just Mack, disobeying a direct order. But then he realized that he was just kidding himself. He turned and the Iron Monger was right there, right in front of him, flame licking off his blackened armor.

“Tony, what was that noise?” Andrew asked.

“Thirty-five percent, sir.” Jarvis said.

Tony had no time to move before the Iron Monger nailed him with a huge roundhouse punch. Stark skidded across the rooftop, but was able to make a quick recovery. He was about to deliver a blow of his own, until he spotted another iron figure approach the Iron Monger from behind.

“Mack!” He yelled.

“Mack?” Andrew said over the phone. “Is he up there with you?”

The Red Ranger leaped onto the Iron Monger’s gigantic back, grabbing for the hydraulic lines that he had identified as essential for the Iron Monger suit to function. He knew it was a calculated risk, getting this close, but he saw no other way. He also knew that Tony would be upset with him for disobeying his order, but he should’ve known the type of hardheaded kid he was.

Mack took the risk and lost as the Iron Monger intercepted the thrust and threw his arms around the Red Ranger in a massive bear hug. The pressure on Mack was murderous, his armor starting to crack under the pressure. He struggled to maintain consciousness as his HUD began to splinter and break apart.

“Mack! Use your flares!” Tony exclaimed.

He discharged the chaff, and it distracted the Iron Monger only for a moment. But it was enough for Mack to reach down and disengage discs that were attached on either hip. They were explosives, and their detonation let loose a mass of smoke and flame that caused the Iron Monger to lose his grip on Mack. The Iron Monger waved the smoke away, stepped out of it, and tried to find where Mack had gone.

He didn’t react nearly quickly enough as Mack leaped onto his back. The Iron Monger made his first tactical mistake: Instead of throwing himself backward, slamming Mack to the ground like a wrestler, he instinctively tried to reach around and grab at him. It was his undoing as Mack reached down and ripped loose the hydraulics, pulling a long cable out of the Iron Monger’s spine.

The Iron Monger staggered, clearly losing power. Mack didn’t let up, continuing to pummel him. The Iron Monger, making one last desperate effort, managed to grab Mack by the head and whipped him around. He sent Mack flying, the air whipping past Mack’s face as he realized that the Iron Monger had his helmet.

Mack landed on the roof, facing his massive opponent, with Tony Stark standing right next to him. “I told you to help the others evacuate the city!” Tony exclaimed.

“This is personal, Tony.” Mack said. “This man tried to kill my father. I’m not going to let him get away with that.”

“Oh, great. Revenge: a dish best served later rather than now.” Stark commented.

The Iron Monger crushed Mack’s helmet in his oversized hand and then tossed the scrap metal aside. He stomped across the roof toward him and Stark, stretching out his arm, and the two ironclad figures before him saw a massive gun snap into view. Without Mack’s helmet, he was pretty much the most vulnerable target for Stane.

Mack and Tony leaped to opposite sides as Stane opened fire, but the damaged hydraulics had ruined his ability to manipulate his weaponry properly. Bullets sprayed everywhere, cracking the Plexiglas rooftop. It was designed to withstand stress, but this was beyond anything conceived for it. It cracked in a spider-web pattern and then shattered, sending Tony tumbling down toward the reactor, which was bubbling like a cauldron. He reached out desperately and caught a metal girder, as Mack cried out his name. Plexiglas rained down, and from the corner of his eye he saw Andrew and Spencer down there, covering their head and trying to avoid the shards coming down all around them.

Mack immediately ran to Tony’s aid, offering a hand to help him up. Tony reached up with his free hand and grabbed after Mack’s. With a combined force of both Mack’s super-genetic strength and the suit’s, he hurled Tony’s body away from the hole and into the air. While soaring, Stark ignited his boots, hovering himself in midair. He glanced down at Mack, who stared at him for a moment and then towards Andrew down below.

“Dad, hit the button!” Mack yelled.

Andrew’s hand hesitated over the button. “No, Mack! Get off the rooftop first! You won’t be safe!”

“Yes, I will! Just do it!”

“No, you won’t. You’ll…” Before Andrew could finish, they all heard a loud stomping noise, which was obvious by this time the Iron Monger. Mack looked up and noticed him bringing his gun to bear once more. He swallowed hard, seeing the barrel of the gun staring straight at him.

“DO IT NOW!!!!” Mack screamed.

Andrew grimaced. He hit all the switches, praying that he hadn’t just killed his own son, and then dove under the consoles for cover along with Spencer, as the world went steel blue.

Tony rocketed away from overhead as it came: an electromagnetic pulse, flashing upward along the reactor. The searing flash of the EMP was momentarily halted between the satellite dishes. Then it surged outward, turning both Mack and the Iron Monger into statues as the pulse knocked out both their power and electronics. The blast continued, unstoppable, radiating concentrically outward and rendering everything dark in its wake.

The roof, unable to withstand the incredible heat generated by the surge, buckled, its center sagging. Mack lied nearby it, his body motionless—he was completely unconscious at the moment. The Iron Monger, closest to the collapsing section of the roof, toppled over and tumbled down into the bubbling purple miasma that was the Arc reactor. He disappeared into it with no screaming. And even if there were one following his plight, it would have been drowned out by the sound of the remarkable explosion that followed, erupting through half of the complex.

As soon as the explosion had passed, Andrew and Spencer moved away from their hiding spot and looked upward, noting the horrific result of the electromagnetic pulse. The only thing that ran through Andrew’s mind was Mack, who he had no sight of from where he was standing. All he could’ve done was shout out his name repeatedly to make sure he was alright. There was no answer.

On the ruined rooftop of the Arc reactor building, Tony Stark landed himself gently near the unconscious Mack. He crouched down and began removing his smoking hot armor from his body. “Red! Red, wake up! Wake up, kid! Don’t play around.” But Mack did not wake up. He remained in an unconscious state, even as Tony had completely stripped him of his damaged armor. It was by then that Tony noticed it: a gaping hole at the right of Mack’s abdomen, revealing a set of wires and circuits beneath. “Holy crap! He’s an android!” He remembered what Andrew had told him during that double date of theirs years ago. He didn’t believe it then, but he sure as hell believed it now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six days had passed since the great battle that occurred at Stark Industries. The media was all over the matter, and even another press conference was held at Stark Industries to address it. Several reporters, including Donna K. Thomas from The Daily Bugle, had gathered there to get the scoop. And only one person would give it to them, and that was Tony Stark himself.

At the Hartford mansion, the Operation Overdrive Rangers (sans Mack) sat in the lounge room, watching the television set to listen in on Rhodey’s update. A lot of what he told the press was obviously fabricated to protect the innocent. According to Tony Stark, who phoned them recently before the conference, he was visited by some representatives of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (a.k.a. “S.H.I.E.L.D.”) who had instructed him to lie about the incident. It was rather baffling that these men had not come to the mansion to see them, since they were as much involved in the matter as Tony was.

Rhodey did mention their names in his speech, stating that seven ironclad Power Rangers were able to prevent further disasters caused by the “malfunctioned robotic prototype.” Seven…meaning that they were counting Tony (or perhaps Andrew Hartford) as one of them—possibly the new “Red and Gold Ranger.” It sounded ridiculous. But if it was what the government wanted, then he had no choice but to obey.

Shortly after Rhodey finished his speech, he opened himself for a few simple questions from the reporters. By this time in the live broadcast, Andrew arrived in the lounge room with Spencer, instantly attracting attention from the Rangers, who got up and approach him urgently.

“How’s Mack doing, Mr. Hartford?” Ronny asked, trying to hold back the tears that had been pouring out of her eyes for days.

Andrew seemed hesitant to answer for a moment, but was able to speak with an assuring tone and a small smile. “Mack’s going to be fine. He just suffered some minor burns from the radiation. But he’s been recuperating well. He’ll be back on his feet again in a few more days.”

The Rangers were relieved to hear this, sighing a breath of relief. It was Will who then asked, “Can we see him?”

“No. Not just yet.” Andrew said, while sharing an awkward glance with Spencer. “He’s…He’s resting right now. And he’ll need plenty of it in due time.”

The Rangers nodded in understanding. “Well, the important thing is that he’s getting better.” Tyzonn said.

“Yeah, ‘cause that was a pretty close call we had that night.” Rose added.

They all agreed in unison with that sentiment, just as Dax spotted Tony Stark on the television. “Hey! He’s on!”

Focusing their attention on the television screen, they watched as Tony stepped up to a podium that had been set up. Questions started to bubble up and he promptly put his hand up to silence them. The cards were arrayed on the lectern.

“I’m just going to stick with the cards this time,” he said a bit haltingly. “Because last time…” He paused for a minute. “There has been speculation that I was involved in the events that took place.”

“Stark, do you honestly expect us to believe that you have hired your personal friend, Andrew Hartford, as your personal bodyguard?” Donna Thomas asked. “Some sources have claimed that Andrew Hartford was seen simultaneously with the Iron Avenger, which could only mean that Hartford is in fact not ‘Iron Man’.”

“Yes,” he said, hurrying back to the cards. “Some have gone so far to actually suggest that…”

“And if you want further proof, this mysterious ‘bodyguard’ was somehow equipped with an undisclosed ‘Stark high-tech powered battle armor prototype’. At least that is what it would appear to me.” Donna said.

“See, I’m getting to that. Some have gone so far to actually suggest that I was actually the guy in the suit—”

“Now I’m confused, Tony.” Donna interjected. “Is the story that they were both bodyguards in high-tech powered battle armor, or that one was a bodyguard and the other was a giant robot that was fighting the bodyguard in high-tech powered battle armor?”

“I know it’s confusing. I—”

He stopped and looked at them, seeing the questions on their faces. He thought about how lying and deceit from others had brought him to this pass. He wondered what type of lies Andrew had been feeding his own son about his existence. That kid isn’t human, but his old man’s got him believing that he is, which is just wrong on Andy’s part. Tony had sworn to put an end to that sort of thing for the safety of his company—to do away with underhandedness and double-dealing. With the sort of mind-set that resulted in weapons being secretly sold to enemies and destroying lives.

People didn’t really know what happened last night. More questions would be raised, and more. There had to be an end to fear, and an end to secrecy, or otherwise this wreck of a world was going to be the best they had got and it was only going to get worse.

From the lounge room of Hartford Mansion, the group watched closely and carefully, hoping Tony would answer truthfully soon to avoid exposing himself any further. This reporter was catching him at a crossroads, and he was not defending himself well at all.

Finally, Tony did answer: “I am going to drop the cards,” he said, and he put the cards down carefully, folded his hands. “The truth is, I’m not the heroic type. I’ve had a lot of indiscretions in my days. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. But the fact of the matter is, in all honesty…I am Iron—”

Then, suddenly, the television screen went black.

The heads of Andrew, Spencer, and the Rangers went to each other, wondering which one of them might’ve accidentally hit the “Power” button on the remote control with either their hand or their butt. However, the television’s controller was near none of them, meaning that it had to be the mansion’s electricity or something else.

“I hope I didn’t break anyone’s concentration,” said a voice from behind. They all turned their heads to a shadowed corner of the room, where a dark figure stood, holding the remote control. “But you all already know the story, don’t you?”

Andrew motioned ahead of the Rangers, staring suspiciously at the shadowy figure. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

“How I got here is not important.” The figure said, as he stepped into the light and revealed his identity: an African American male with a shaved head and a black eye patch over one eye. “But who I am is.”

The group was almost fazed by the man’s appearance. It was creepier in the light than it was in the shadows.

“Then who are you?” Rose asked him.

“My name’s Nick Fury…I’m the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.” He said. “I’ve come to talk with you about new operations.”

“New operations?” Andrew uttered, very perplexed.

“I’ve been keeping up with you and your team and discovered that you’re not the only Power Rangers that are existent at this point in time.” Fury said. “I want to gather you and much others for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest project: Operation Mayhem.”

Andrew and the others were overwhelmed. Yet Andrew couldn’t help but to wonder one thing: “Why?”

“Because very soon,” Fury said, “Our world will become a living hell. And you people and a whole lot of others will be the only ones who can save it.”

Andrew, Spencer, and the Rangers were paralyzed by Fury’s words. What kind of evil force would take a massive army of Power Rangers to stop?



POWER RANGERS: MARVEL MAYHEM

[Shadow Ranger]

Wow... just... WOW! *gives Cyber a standing ovation* The blending of OO with the Iron Man Movie plot is amazing! I can't wait for the next part! Keep it up! :D