Outside, the sun was setting behind the gray and purple jagged horizon of the mountains, casting short and long shadows soaked in reds, yellows, and golds across the currently quiet city of Ivory Glade, Colorado. The shortest shadows touched the western outskirts of town; being positioned on that side of the city, dusk was an incredible event where colors swirled and nature demonstrated her unmatchable beauty. The longest shadows reached eastward, beyond the city's limit, to touch the foreboding structure standing ever-vigilant for more than twenty five years. It had become as much a representation of fortification as a symbol of fear since it was revealed to be the base of operation for the Omni Rangers, defenders of the city and the world at large. Alpha Complex existed in half sunlight and half shadow.
Inside, an important gathering was taking place within the spacious chamber affectionately called Control Point. It was a meeting that had taken a long time to happen, and a meeting that would undoubtedly leave repercussions for a long time to come. Every twenty five years such an event was supposed to occur; only once had it truly been attempted on Earth.
Sitting in a swiveling chair, with his legs propped up on a table and his arms crossed compliantly, Cecil used his tongue to push a toothpick back and forth in his mouth, keeping his mind occupied as he waited. Oriquin, the Omnian lord who existed day to day with a power that could incinerate him in an instant, stood beside him, similarly nervous but also excited. His graying brown hair almost reached his shoulders, which were covered by a soft violet silk shirt and a black cloak decorated with white, red, and golden points of light representing stars. Sharp brown eyes that were usually tired and withdrawn had regained a spark of life, and he stood straight and more confident than usual. Cecil had not seen him more alive than he was today since the day they defeated Arcanza and destroyed Neo Twilight City.
Also resting in a chair nearby, with her legs crossed and hands laying softly in her lap, Rachel Manus still gaped at her surroundings. The monitors, computers, maps, holographic projections, sliding doors, panels radiating light, and prism-colored screens that housed Alpha Systems were as familiar to Cecil now as things in his own home, but Rachel stared at them in wide-eyed shock and did not bother to hide her amazement.
The center of Control Point had been cleared, everything usually there pushed or moved aside to accommodate the ceremony. Slowly the doors to the corridor outside on the south wall opened themselves, and Amber and Brittany emerged, wearing black coats and black skirts and a blouse to match their Ranger color, so Amber's was gray and Brittany's was yellow. Threaded on both coats was the five-colored five-diamond Omni Ranger symbol, and both of them wore a golden cord tied around their forehead. They walked to the northern corners of the room, turned to face the center, and remained stationary.
Next Alexander and Rebecca entered, wearing matching outfits, except Becky wore pink and Alex wore green with black pants instead of a skirt. They positioned themselves in the southeast and southwest corners, facing the middle.
Finally, Bane entered, not in the Omnian uniform, but in street clothes, a dark blue shirt striped with white untucked and paired with blue jeans. His long hair hung free, giving off an eerie, ghostly blue glow, that combined with his crystalline eyes to give him a fearsome and deadly aura, like his father Arcanza had also possessed. Behind him came Patrick Manus, who wore a costume similar to Alex's, albeit with a bright blue shirt instead of a green one. The golden headband was absent from both him and Bane; it was a tribute of some sort to Craig, and neither of them knew the wayward Hopwood very well.
"The transfer of the OmniTech Ability Band requires several things from the recipient," Oriquin explained as Bane and Patrick took their places in the center, facing one another. "Used for more than twenty five years, the incredible power OmniTech gives you will begin to warp your mind, and it will be your duty to choose a worthy successor. You accept this, Patrick Manus?"
Patrick nodded, answering, "Yes."
Oriquin continued his line of questions: "Do you swear never to use these OmniTech abilities for personal benefit, selfishness, or..." He paused, lowering his head in thought, most likely remembering his own past of which Cecil knew a little but not all. "...acts of revenge?"
"I swear," Patrick replied.
"Do you swear never to reveal your identity as an Omni Ranger to anyone?"
The teenager nodded his affirmation again and promised, "I swear."
"Rachel," Oriquin addressed her as he turned to her, "do you also swear never to reveal Patrick's identity as an Omni Ranger to anyone?"
She stood up slowly, hands still folded together in front of her, and said back to the Omnian lord, "I swear." Silently Rachel sat down again to watch.
"And finally," concluded Oriquin, returning his dark and powerful stare to the new initiate, "do you swear to fulfill your role in the team, as not only protector of your allies but as protector of..."
The floor and walls of Control Point began to shake violently, throwing Oriquin, Brittany, Alexander, Rebecca, and Patrick to the ground. Amber and Bane remained standing, both of them scanning the chamber intensely for the source of the surprise. Cecil swiveled around to the computer panels and pressed the activation button, demanding, "Alpha, what is happening?" On the monitor, nine white dots appeared on the map layout of Alpha Complex, showing the positions of all of them near the center. A tenth dot was mysteriously present in the computer mainframe. "Identify the person inside the mainframe."
"PROFESSOR DONALDSON'S DNA DETECTED," Alpha System reported, "BUT PROFILES INDICATE THE PROFESSOR IS DECEASED. INITIATING SECONDARY SCAN." Alarms began blaring all around and flashing red lights accompanied the warning.
"We can't waste time!" Amber called to Cecil over the noise. "Let's go..."
"TARGET IDENTIFIED," came the announcement, "AS ARCANZA."
Cecil's blood ran cold and, glancing at Oriquin who struggled to regain his footing and Bane who stood dumbfounded, he imagined everyone else's did, too. "Patrick," he ordered sharply, "take Rachel and leave the Complex now. We will finish the initiation another time." Rachel rushed to Bane's side and whispered something in his ear, placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, then allowed Patrick to grab her arm and pull her away.
Barely after they were outside the Control Point exit, a portion of the circular wall to the north exploded outward. Standing on the other side of the wall, holding a compact disc in one hand and a vial of blood-red substance in the other, was a young man slightly older than Bane. Wavy black hair hung loose around his shoulders, eyes sparkled with a dangerous and familiar crystalline glow, but the facial features were noticeably younger than Arcanza. His body was more muscular, too, visibly so through a tight dark gray uniform adorned with only a sword-equipped sheath-holding belt and a pair of black boots.
"Arcanza?" Rebecca gasped in surprise.
"Not exactly," the youth corrected her with a smirk.
Brittany coughed some of the smoke out of her lungs in order to say, "Seraide told me Alpha Systems has a flaw in that if your paternal DNA is on record, it might confuse you with your father."
"So he's Arcanza's son," Alexander finished the chain of logic.
"No," Bane said, instantaneously summoning the Storm Lance into his hands and the Water Claws around his wrists. He looked ready to charge forward violently, emotion overtaking reason in the blink of an eye as it did yesterday, but he visibly struggled to remain calm.
The youth dropped the vial and let it shatter on the floor into several pieces of glass and a pool of thick liquid that had to be blood. He slid the disc into his belt and drew his thin sword in the same smooth motion. "You have destroyed a majority of Rapture Hold and proven your strength as a team, so I suppose you have earned the knowledge of who I am, and who your murderer will be unless you allow me to leave unhindered." Placing both hands on the hilt of his sword and placing the point of the weapon against the floor in the center of the bloodpool, the stranger smiled coldly as his hair seemed to be blown by some unseen gust of wind. The pose made Oriquin gasp. "My name is Salodis. I am one of Arcanza's children." Salodis tilted his head and looked at Bane, asking in a taunting voice, "You didn't think the almighty Destroyer sired only one single son, did you, dear brother?"
With a weak voice, Oriquin answered on Bane's behalf, "The bastard likely has children scattered around the universe, for all the traveling he had done and time he had lived."
"True," Salodis laughed. "Until recently, I was field commander, the second in command of Rapture Hold. But that damned Pseudo Ranger has been throwing lives away since we arrived and I...escaped." He stepped forward and fell into an offensive stance that looked frightening natural. "Now show me your true power!"
Cecil, with a fierce gesture, motioned the others to fall in line behind him and four of them instantly obeyed. Bane remained standing where he was with a stunned stare directed at Arcanza's other son. "You seem rather confident for someone who knows we slaughtered seven of your teammates," remarked Cecil
"Hardly a slaughter," the villain sneered, "and they were all weaker than I."
"It's morphin' time!" Cecil exclaimed over Salodis's proclamation.
"Omni Cerberus!"
"Omni Dragon!"
"Omni Pegasus!"
"Omni Hydra!"
"Omni Sphinx!"
"Omni Titan!"
Gathering together in the center of Control Point, they simultaneously called, "Omni Rangers! Full power!"
Bane unleashed himself forward, swinging the Storm Lance high in hopes of a head attack, but Salodis skillfully evaded and smoothly moved away. On the other side of the room, Brittany took aim with her Lumina Cannon and fired, but again the intruder avoided being struck and instead the blast destroyed a portion of Control Point's computers. Cecil, Alexander, and Rebecca linked hands and summoned their ultimate attacks, combining the Annihilation Surge, Environment Surge, and Electrocution Surge into a single tri-fold assault. Helplessly Salodis was throw off his feet by a localized tremor directly below him, while a painful stream of electricity took away his ability to focus and a cocoon of energy formed around him moving slowly inward to crush him. However, instead of meeting his end at that moment, he opened his mouth and unleashed a mighty roar as he held out his hand and somehow used his powers to pull Oriquin all the way from the opposite side of the room. Despite his struggle, Oriquin could do nothing as he came in contact with Salodis and immediately began to scream as the three-Ranger attack continued, forcing them to abandon the attempt. As they dropped their offensive, Amber struck from behind, thrusting one Shadow Blade into her target's shoulder and the other into his side. Stunned, the villain released his hold on the Omnian lord, while Amber spirited their ally to safety.
Alexander threw his Gaia Star, hoping to distract Salodis in order to move in closer, but with a slash of his sword he deflected the boomerang-like weapon. In the space of a second, Bane used, "Arctic Wave!" and began collecting energy to freeze his self-proclaimed brother in place. The attempt must have ignited something inside Salodis, though, because suddenly he was moving over the floor with incredible speed. A strong kick knocked the wind out of Alex, an open hand blow to the helmet took Brittany to the ground, two punches pushed Amber backward and scared Becky enough to keep away, while a high spinning kick forced Cecil to throw up his Force Barrier to protect himself.
Coming to Bane, Salodis thrust the sword directly for his heart, but the Blue Ranger leaped into the air and landed with his legs around the ex-Rapture Holder's head. He twisted to snap his opponent's neck, but Salodis performed a backflip that threw Bane off of him and onto the floor upside-down. The warrior lifted his sword with both hands, point downward, and went in for the killing stroke, but stabbed nothing but air. Behind him, Bane performed some type of kick-and-slice Omnian martial arts move that, combined with the claws wrapped around his hands, made Salodis hiss with pain.
"One...two...three!" Cecil commanded.
"Tremor Wave!" "Magnet Wave!" "Dazzle Wave!" "Pulse Wave!"
The united powers fired off together, bombarding Salodis with high-frequency energy from all four directions. He started as though planning to avoid them, but instead spun in a three hundred sixty degree circle and bounced every blast back. The Wave Powers exploded on four spot around Control Point, destroying even more of the equipment.
"We have to get out of Alpha Complex," Amber said as she came up to stand at Cecil's side. "And take him with us."
Cecil shook his head and stepped forward, Chaos Sword materializing in his hand as he walked, and he waited until Salodis turned to meet him. With a strong opening strike, Cecil began what would soon turn into an eloquent dance of battle, as he thrust or sliced, Salodis parried or trapped, then Salodis swept or stroked and Cecil had to deflect and counter. Once, the villain's blade broke through the Red Ranger's defense, but luckily the Battle Shield absorbed the entire killing blow. Enraged, Cecil unlocked his own series of sword attacks that were brushed aside inhumanly easily.
"Disengage, damn you," Bane ordered, and a shot from his Omni Blaster blew Cecil across Control Point, slamming him into the wall and causing yet more damage. Assuming a defensive stance, Bane spoke to his relative, "Enough playing."
"Let me leave," Salodis snarled, "and playtime is over."
The Blue Ranger relaxed his protection and motioned toward the exit, "I will escort you."
"Why, thank you, brother," replied with an amused grin. Salodis walked over to Bane as extended his hand, expecting a sign of a truce to be returned to him. Slowly, the New Omnian moved to offer his own hand to comply. Grabbing his brother's hand with one of his own, Salodis used the other to diabolically thrust his thin blade directly through Bane's chest. The Blue Ranger uniform de-materialized as Bane screamed with agony.
The first Ranger to react was Cecil. Throwing his hands palms-out and concentrating, he began to summon forth all the OmniTech energy he needed to carry out the most powerful Annihilation Surge he could muster.
"No!" Bane cried out, his crystalline eyes filling with tears, as the emotion-less staple of the Omni Ranger team revealed his most emotion ever. The blood soaked his white and dark blue shirt in dark crimson, and its shredded front showed an entry wound too far from his heart to be fatal. "I want to settle this alone." He walked over to Cecil slowly, clearly in pain, and detached his Morpher, handing it over. Unexpectedly, he tumbled forward, catching himself on Cecil's shoulders, but it was only a front in order for Bane to put his mouth right near Cecil's ear. "We can't defeat him. No chance. Leave me alone with him in here...and destroy Alpha Complex with the Megazord." Then, even more shockingly, he added, "You were right. I need to atone for my father's sins...and my own."
His immediate reaction was wanting to yell, "What?" at the top of his voice, but Cecil restrained and instead narrowed his eyes to study the form of Salodis, who stood in the center of Control Point smiling serenely. Silently he took the OmniTech Ability Band with one hand and pressed his other against Bane's bloody chest wound. "Daosh dend eiashar," he sad sadly.
Bane released his hold on Cecil and studied him with shaking eyes that did not comprehend how or why Cecil knew that phrase. It was an ancient language, of the native New Omnians, meaning, "Love the fires of battle." Bravely, Bane nodded, and turned to face his flesh and blood to the death.
"Teleport outside," the Red Ranger ordered the others. "I think Bane and Salodis want to settle this fight between themselves."
"At least my brother is not a coward!" Salodis laughed. "Trinity damn you filthy Omni Rangers, each and every damn one of you. Cowards!"
Cecil ordered, "Ignore him," and repeated himself, "Teleport outside."
Amber, Becky, Alex, and Brittany gathered together and, deciding he knew what he was doing, followed their leader's orders and teleported as a group. Alone, in his royal clothing, Oriquin came up alongside the Red Ranger and whispered sadly, "Farewell, Alpha Complex." Cecil grabbed Oriquin's arm tightly and drew on OmniTech to teleport both of them from their last view of inside Alpha Complex to their last view outside.
The others were still together, with Patrick and Rachel, standing about a hundred yards away from the main entrance. The high fence had, somehow, been completely knocked over, giving a majestic view of the circular building that had for so long been the base of operations standing against the evil seeking to engulf Earth.
"I cannot do it," Cecil announced.
Becky asked curiously, "Can't do what?"
Oriquin took the Blue Morpher from Cecil and gave it to Patrick, who shivered as he took the device and attached it around his forearm. Rachel, next to him, began crying, and called out, "Bane! Where is he? What's the matter?"
A strong hand clamped down on Cecil's shoulder, pressure accompanying it to reinforce the strength, and he knew it was Oriquin without looking. There was a sense of calmness about the group, with the exception of Rachel's sobs leaking through openly. "Alpha Complex is too important to our operations," Cecil argued to the empty space of air in front of him. "Goddammit, the place is almost sentient. It talks to us like a person! I refuse to follow through. Rangers, regroup, we are going back in."
"If you go back in," warned Oriquin, "you will die."
"You think I should comply with Bane's plan?" the Red Ranger demanded, shaking his fist as he spoke with a sharp edge to his tone. "For the last time, no. Back to act..." He felt something burst in his spinal cord and, before he could emit a scream or so much as a whimper of pain, hit the dirt unconscious and de-morphed.
Oriquin handed the red Morpher to Amber and directed her, "Summon the Megazord and destroy Alpha Complex while Salodis is inside."
"What?" gasped Amber, recoiling and stepping away from him.
"Salodis has inherited his father's soul!" Oriquin cried in as close to a plea as he had ever come. "His ability to evolve stronger after every battle means he is capable of reaching a point where you have no chance of stopping him. It is now or never!"
Crashing into the holographic projector that had fallen from the ceiling some time earlier, another series of painful waves shot through Bane, originating from the wound in his chest. What was taking them so long? He forced himself to stand quickly and smiled grimly to his opponent. Leaping forward, Bane performed a perfect double spin straight kick that not only caught Salodis off guard, but knocked the sword from his hands. Catching it in mid-air, the former Blue Ranger released a primal scream as he attempted an overhead slice to end his sibling's life. Instead Salodis parried the attack—with his forearm!—and retreated to safety on the other side of Control Point.
Falling into defense, Bane noticed the top of the blade had curved significantly, and now the weapon was virtually useless. He wiped blood out of his eyes and pulled his hair back to clear his vision of straggling blue threads that might inhibit his fight.
Salodis ran his hand along the shredded sleeve of his dark gray outfit to feel the blood oozing out from the injury, smiled as it instantly healed itself, and brushed the dried blood off a perfectly restored arm. "Our father was right," he laughed.
"No," Bane answered, but when his breath started to stagger he gave up talking anymore. Whatever healing ability Salodis possessed must not be natural. Probably pseudoine. Or that more potent pseudocioal.
"Yes," countered Salodis. "Things are taking place right now that neither you nor your friends could comprehend, let alone hope to prevent or reverse. The ultimate goal of the Trinity of Darkness, I am sure you know, is the resurrection of..."
"Never happen!" screamed Bane, and he began choking.
Salodis sighed and waved good-bye. "It is closer to happening now than when father was alive. Just a matter of time." Suddenly, the entire Complex began shaking violently, and Salodis vigorously looked around, his eyes widening in panic, while Bane remained stoic and motionless. "What is going on?" he demanded with a touch of fear in his cool, smooth gene-given voice.
Closing his eyes and focusing on staying strong, Bane sneered, "Maybe your god is passing judgment."
"We are sons of the Destroyer, you and I," Salodis told him in a quietly as he came forward and grabbed Bane's neck in his hand.
With a final sad smile, the New Omnian who was kidnapped at a young age and raised against his will and nature to become a warrior of twilight replied, "Not anymore." The circular wall of Alpha Complex collapsed first, and the ceiling caved in immediately afterward, forever entombing the brothers in the ruins. Then, without warning, the powerful foot of the Omni Megazord crushed them instantaneously. The pain spreading from Bane's chest wound stopped.
The midnight winds of a Colorado winter tossed their hair, blew their clothes, and chilled their bodies, but all of that was easy to ignore when faced with the task at hand. Flying low overhead, the traveling ship Gemini Destiny, a decent-sized vehicle supposedly capable of both planetary and outer space transport, cast several spotlights down onto the wreckage of their former collective home, a fortress they believed was indestructible against the evil they fought. But now that Alpha Complex was nothing but hunks, shards, beams, and dust, the Rangers were vulnerable. They could hear the Pseudo Ranger, Corout, the remaining Rapture Holders, and the collective Twilight Legionnaires laughing in those winds.
Alexander, in a heavy black shirt, blue jeans, and an unzipped green jacket that blew freely, lifted debris near the area where Control Point had been hours earlier. Brittany, in a yellow sweatshirt and red sweatpants with a silver scarf around her neck, dug nearby, but not too near, afraid of finding something unpleasant. On the far side of the ruins, Amber, Patrick, and Rebecca sifted through it mechanically; those three obviously did not want to be doing this, but it had to be done. It had to be done, Cecil believed, in honor of the enemy turned friend who they, as a group, stabbed in the back as carelessly and thoughtless as Michael had done to them.
Dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt, beige slacks, and wearing the black coat with the diamond symbol and the red emblazonment behind it that was passed down from team leader to team leader, given to him by Craig, who got it from Soleron, and so forth, Cecil Mercuric clenched his teeth and pulled another steel reinforcement out of what appeared to be the containment wing where Arcanza had been imprisoned when he was kept inside the Complex.
"He could have teleported out with us if he had wanted to," Oriquin tried to explain, as he had been ever seen Cecil had regained consciousness after being disabled by the unmatchable Starlight power. "He wanted to make absolutely sure Salodis was killed in the process. It was his call, one hundred percent. Stop acting like a fool and start acting like a lea..."
"Like a leader?" interrupted Cecil, dropping the debris he had just lifted and standing up straight to meet Oriquin face to face. "I am a leader. Craig chose me to call the shots on this team. Not you; me. He had faith in my abilities and decision-making. Not yours; mine. You may be the oldest person here, you may be the most powerful, you may be the most knowledge about our enemies, but I have the last word here on Earth. This is our battle now. If you want to go off and fight your own, like you have been for years now, be my guest, but when you follow the Omni Rangers, you follow me."
Staring back at him, just as unblinking and unresponsive, Oriquin waited patiently as the tirade wrapped up with a virtual smack in the face. When he could catch his breath, the Omnian lord sighed and remarked to himself, "Just like Soleron. There must be some..."
And as if interrupting him once had not been enough, as if the explosion of anger had not been enough, Cecil once again started in on him, "You were out of line in making the decision for me. Stop making excuses and comparisons and..."
"HEY!" shouted Alexander. "Over here!"
Cecil turned, still angry and upset, and saw Alex tossing up debris with increased speed and strength. "Stay here," the Rangers's leader ordered and ran to his friend's side to look down into the opening he had made.
Carefully, Alex held up some of the wreckage as Cecil crawled down into it and underneath the wreckage, into a cavern-like vacuole. Feeling his way around in the darkness, Cecil found what Alex had pointed out to him, draped it across his back, and climbed up and out to above the surface. The other four teenagers had already gathered around to watch him emerge from the ruins of Alpha Complex with Bane's body.
Laying it down over the jagged rubble gently, Cecil felt his heart sink, staring apologetically at the closed eyes, the blood-stained skin on his chest and arms, and the depressing irony of the scythe clutched in his hand. "I am sorry, Bane," he whispered.
"Hold it," Amber breathed excitedly. "Listen." She lowered herself to put her ear near the New Omnian's mouth, and confirmed, "He's breathing. He's still alive."
The pronouncement surged in Cecil's heart like a burst of adrenaline, kicking him into immediate action. "Touch him and teleport him onboard Gemini Destiny," he instructed Alex, who complied without question. Together, all of the other five teenagers used their Omni Morphers to teleport inside the ship as well.
Walking back to Oriquin, Cecil kept his attention engaged and simply said, "I apologize." Then, quickly, he drew on his own supply of power and hurried to rejoin his friends and attend to Bane's emergency.
Everyone was still present when their alien friend and ally came out of his coma and looked around the Gemini Destiny infirmary in open shock. Rachel had returned, as well, and hugged him tightly, oblivious to the fragile life support systems keeping his physiology intact. "I love you," she whispered softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Bane carefully lifted his left hand and rubbed her back tenderly.
"We owe you so much," Amber told him sincerely.
Blinking once, Cecil could see thoughts and questions in his eyes, but the only one that managed to reach his mouth was, "How?"
Alex answered, "We don't know how. I believe in the mercy of God. Cecil thinks some empty areas were created because the Megazord pushed so much of Alpha Complex into the ground and you were lucky enough to be caught in one."
"Salodis..."
Becky shook her head and told him, "None of us know. And we can't scan the wreckage for traces because we're on Gemini Destiny and have none of our old technology."
His eyes scanned the room once more, looking for something, and when he spotted his shredded clothes Bane pointed to them and said, "Check the...pockets." Cecil walked over to the counter at a moderate pace and shuffled through the tattered remnants of fiber until he found an intact pocket. Inside was a compact disc. Struggling to sit up, and helped by Rachel as she realized what he was trying to do, Bane explained in a quiet voice, "Salodis was stealing a copy of Alpha System. That is what that is."
"You mean," Brittany blurted is disbelief, "we still have a back-up of Alpha System? We might be able to recreate it here if that's true! And if it's undamaged."
Cecil smiled, handing the data disc over to Brittany, and remarked, "Bane, you are just full of miracles and bravery."
With a deep nod, Becky agreed, "Yeah, your father wouldn't be proud."
Everyone went dead silent at the failed joke attempt, nervous about bringing up such a touchy subject so soon. But, softly, Bane chuckled, accompanied by a persistent weak grin.
"One more thing," interrupted Patrick, pushing his way through to stand next to Bane's bedside. He detached the Morpher and set it down on the middle of the New Omnian's lap. "After what I've seen today, I'm not sure I can handle being a Power Ranger. I'm also pretty sure that this thing was meant for you."
The grin vanished from Bane's pale face and that familiar sense of a panther readying itself to strike that often accompanied him returned even more intensely.
"We need you, Bane," Alex told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Even though none of us had a clue, Cecil knew what he was doing when he chose you for the job. We're a team. We have to endure this crusade together."
"You trust me now," the bedridden Bane concluded.
Cecil avowed, "More than ever."
Lifting the blue Morpher up to stare at the familiar dull silver device, Bane closed his eyes, and Cecil could feel him drawing up all the OmniTech energy he could, probably as a test or affirmation of some sort. It must have satisfied him because he opened his eyes, attached the Ability Band around his forearm, and nodded intently. "Until I find out who the Pseudo Ranger is, I will carry on. Then I will make my final choice."
It was almost four in the morning, according to his watch, and the winter bursts of chilly air that had plagued the mountainsides hours before were almost non-existent now. He thought back, to when he had watched the Rangers systematically destroy two members of Rapture Hold with weapons and vehicles he had not known they possessed. He remembered the pains he went through to contact Cecil Mercuric in the Ivory Glade Community Hospital. He had watched from a grove of evergreens as Amber Donaldson, unknowing daughter of the sacrificed Professor, rescued her friends from a fate worse than death. And he reflected on giving a sample of that same Professor's DNA to Salodis, allowing him to enter Alpha Complex undetected but knowing full well he would never get out alive.
The debris near his feet shivered. A hand shot up from amongst the pile of the Complex's remains and grabbed hold of a short steel beam embedded firmly in a tangle of other junk. Carefully the figure pulled itself out, struggling to push out from underneath, until he was able to climb completely free.
"You!" Salodis exclaimed, still on hands and knees, looking up.
He held out his hand, palm outward. As he channeled the power, he felt his hair stand on end, saw the colors in his vision invert themselves, and succumbed to the feelings of hatred and intensity of fire that accompanied it. A force more powerful than the flow of time itself rocketed toward Salodis. Incineration would be a understatement for what followed.
With Salodis dead and gone, he turned his attention to the space ship that had settled among the mountains far to the west, past the small city of Ivory Glade. Gemini Destiny. He knew Michael would play his trump card soon. Michael had to. And when he did...
The final sight that drew his attention was the nighttime sky, filled with stars, each individual one a sun, some lonely, some with planets circling about them. Near one of those stars was New Omnis, where important things were happening as well, but none of them required his intervention. And in one place, where a star should have been, was only an empty space. The Nexus. But it stood out most of all as he crept back into the shadows to wait for this grand crusade to move on to a new phase.
Original Publication Date: 18 October 2001
