Nicole took a seat on the back of one of the engine cabs, the higher ground offering some comfort in the sea of chaos around them. The signage for the Sinclair Institute of Technology stood above, darkened by the lack of power to the now extinguished building. She couldn’t take her helmet off to drink anything, not without risking the nearby reporters plastering her identity all across the evening news. That small fact alone bothered her, not that she was actually thirsty beyond what she normally would be.
Not a lick of heat had been felt, even from the worst of the flames. It was almost disconcerting at times just how protective the Ranger suits could be. She’d known they could take punishment far beyond anything that humanity had come up with, but it was still startling to actually experience.
All that power, and humanity was still losing ground to the invaders.
There were maybe three hundred Rangers worldwide, at last estimate. Of those, barely two hundred actively tried to fight the invaders. Some were like the Fire Rescue team that Carlos hailed from, helping humanity in other ways. Others would use the power to carve out their own kingdoms. Several countries around the world had fallen to rogue Ranger teams over the last five years. Funny enough, the invaders didn’t even target those, probably because they were doing the job for them.
It was all so damn pointless. Humanity wasn’t going to win, they would lose and whatever goal the invaders had would be fulfilled. Hold the line, it was practically the Ranger’s mantra in interviews, probably because that was all they could do until the duty claimed them.
A shuddering breath escaped her, because Nicole knew this was to be her own fate. It was so much better than anything she could have ever dared hope for, but the expectations were now higher. She couldn’t just pick a nice summer day to go out peacefully while watching the sky and listening to her favorite music. No, she would die in battle, likely screaming in agony as blades carved her up alive.
The automatons didn’t treat humans like feeling beings, they carved through them like they were just as unthinking and unfeeling as they were. It was always brutally efficient, the slaughter that followed in the machine’s wake. Many so-called experts had examined attacks on the news, spouting their apparent findings.
All rubbish.
If the Sylan wanted to destroy humanity, it would take them five minutes and moderate resources at best. Russia had proven why that method wasn’t being taken, they had launched their full nuclear might against the invaders. Three missiles made it into the air and only one actually managed to strike a target.
Entire swathes of a continent irradiated, all to destroy one measly squadron of autonomous stunt fighters.
It was considered the biggest blunder of the One Day War, the first Ranger team emerged not long after and the invasion forces pulled back to observe, to test. Nicole suspected that the invaders were well acquainted with the Ranger transformations, enough so that it gave them immediate pause. It supported the theory that their last target had created the tech and some survivor had found a way to pass it along to a planet that wasn’t as beaten down, that might still have a chance to fight back.
Pity humans were such poor fits for great power.
Carlos was off in the distance, his helmet now off as he conversed with someone who looked important. Grace wasn’t far, almost as if she was keeping an eye on her while also giving her some space. Nicole wasn’t sure if that was sweet of her, or some form of condescending. She didn’t really care either way. It was nice to have someone in her life that cared, especially one who wasn’t obligated to do so.
Rebecca was practically Nicole’s sister at this point, they had been best friends for since Freshman year. She cared, and Nicole knew that, but it didn’t help her own issues. Colin was Becca’s boyfriend, and she only really knew him outside of that because he worked at one of her favorite shops. Nicole had no surviving blood family, and everyone hated her all through school.
Would Grace continue to just hang out with her if she caught a glimpse of just how broken Nicole was inside? It was a nice fantasy that almost gave Nicole hope for the future. Her old fears were still there, and the idea of opening up again? To get attached to someone who would just toss her aside and spit on her scared the shit out of her. Each time she’d tried to make friends in school, they turned on her. Tiffany was the first among them, and she slowly formed her own little clique that made sure Nicole always remained alone.
Knowing the truth didn’t stop it from hurting.
She learned to stop trusting new people a long time ago.
Nicole wanted to believe that Grace was different, but she couldn’t let herself open up. She couldn’t put herself out there again, only to be hurt. Her body was ugly, only reinforced by the Ranger transformation reshaping her muscles back to their most grotesque. Only the weight of responsibility kept her from ending it that very night.
With a heavy sigh, Nicole let her eyes drift skyward. The smoke was mostly petering out, but still marred the otherwise pristine blue. Her thoughts were bleak far too often, but what else did she really have? She had her team, and that would have to be enough to last for the remainder of her days, however short they ended up being.
At least she found something she could do while they weren’t punching robots in the streets. Helping rescue people in emergencies was fulfilling in many ways, it gave her a sense of purpose. Nothing strong enough to keep her darker thoughts at bay for very long, but it was better than sitting in her dark room with nothing but her phone and social media doom scrolling.
Arguing on the internet wasn’t good for anyone, but it gave her an outlet.
Fuck it, she wanted something to drink. Nicole hopped off the engine with a deftness that no mortal should possess, and landed on the tip of a single foot without a sound, as if gravity didn’t exist for her. She knew how to do all of that from her time as a gymnast, but it was enhanced with the reflexes being a Ranger brought with it.
“There’s the hero of the hour!”
Nicole turned, surprised that someone was approaching her with such a boisterous declaration. She half expected it to be some politician looking for a photo op, and the man’s suit was certainly nice enough to give that impression. He was clean shaven, and sported a close cropped head of dark hair which only drew more attention to the deep scar that crossed his right eye. He might have been in his late twenties, maybe early thirties but Nicole couldn’t tell for sure. The only thing she was sure of was to keep an eye on the blonde cop mean-mugging the clearly important black man.
Grace moved over, a silent offer to be a buffer if needed hung between them. Nicole was grateful for having avoided the bulk of the ‘adoring’ public so far, but it seemed she would have to finally confront them. Better a single man in a suit than a crowd of reporters shouting their questions in the hope she answered them.
“Xavier Sinclair,” the man said, offering his hand the moment he was close enough to do so. Nicole hesitantly accepted, shaking gently. Under her helmet, her eyes flicked over to the name on the side of the building. As if hearing the unasked question, the man smiled brilliantly. “The very same Sinclair as the company behind us. I can’t thank you enough for rushing in to help my employees, and I can promise you that we will do everything in our power to see to the needs of the families of those who didn’t make it out, which would be far more if you hadn’t been there from what I’ve been told.”
The words almost blended together as Nicole ran them over in her head. He was the owner of the company, the same company where middle management was ordering their employees to keep working despite the building being on fucking fire. It twisted her stomach, but could she really afford to make a scene right now?
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Yeah, she probably could.
Squeezing his hand just a bit tighter, Nicole put on her most sickly sweet smile under the helmet and let her words drip honeyed venom. “Might want to rescind whatever memo told your floor managers to order everyone to remain at their stations despite the fire alarms and lack of power. Maybe a few more might have survived.”
Nicole punctuated the final statement with a further squeeze before releasing his hand, and didn’t hold back the smirk as he shook his hand out.
“Yes, well, I can promise that wasn’t my directive,” Sinclair said, eyes flicking over to the reporters which now had cameras on the exchange. “I’ll be certain to look into it, you have my word.”
“Whatever,” Grace said, grabbing Nicole’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s take another look around to be safe.”
They made their way over to one of the makeshift tents and found a cooler loaded down with iced bottles of soda, sports drinks, and plain water. Nicole grabbed a water and stepped off, looking for a place with a bit of privacy they might use. Grace grabbed a drink of her own and seemed to realize the same conundrum that was currently plaguing her ability to drink.
No way in hell Nicole was just going to remove her helmet with so many people around, which meant they needed someplace not as easily noticed. Looking up, a rather absurd idea came to mind. Stupid as it was, the partially burned out building was probably their best bet at the moment.
“Second or third floor?” Nicole asked, gesturing to the still smoldering high rise.
The fire ended up spreading up three more floors and down another two before it was finally contained. She had reported the bodies she saw on her way through, but the true extent of death probably wouldn’t be known for days to come. Thank fuck she’d managed to evacuate those floors before they too were engulfed, she really didn’t want to think about how many might have died if she hadn’t.
Grace’s head tilted up a bit before she shrugged. “Third. Makes it less likely someone gets lucky and sees our faces.”
Nodding, Nicole crossed the street, then jumped almost straight up, angling herself just enough to land in one of the broken windows. The fire hadn’t spread that low, but they still broke a bunch of the windows and soaked the floor thoroughly to ensure the fire had a harder time spreading in the off chance something caught in the vents or some jackass decided to burn their floor for whatever reason.
Grace landed beside her a moment later and they quickly found a break room that didn’t have outside windows. The seats were mostly dry too despite the water dripping from the ceiling tiles, which didn’t really matter aside from the odd squishing feel they had when sat in. These mostly lacked that squicky feeling when Nicole flopped down on one of them, then peeled her helmet off.
Her hair shook free, and she took a deep breath of unfiltered air.
A red helmet followed, being rested on an empty chair before Grace too flopped into a seat and popped the lid on her bottled lemon drink and took a long pull from it. Nicole found herself staring as Grace gulped it down, her short ponytail matted to her skin by sweat that hadn’t come from the heat. Nicole could just barely make out the muscles in her neck flexing as she gulped the whole bottle down.
She was gorgeous, everything that Nicole wasn’t.
Nicole turned away before Grace could notice her creepy staring and drank her own water just as quickly. The cold was harsh, but refreshing, after the events of the last few hours. A welcome reprieve now that the work they could really contribute with was done. They weren’t trained for the rest, but Nicole knew she wanted to learn more so that she could make herself useful outside of being heavily resistant to mundane fire.
She already planned to attend future classes at the station, maybe even hire on as Nicole rather than the Black Ranger, though that might be a bit too obvious. Maybe Grace would even join her, their less than subtle secret the pride of the station. It was a nice thought, one she didn’t know if she could follow through on, but it still brought a ghost of a smile to her face.
“Thinking happy thoughts?” Grace asked.
Nicole looked aside, catching her friend very much staring at her, a far less subtle grin on her own face at whatever she had seen. Crushing the now empty bottle and tossing it aside into a trash can overflowing with water that continued to drip from the ceiling, Nicole leaned back with a sigh.
“Just thinking about how it felt to just help people,” she said, dodging part of the question.
“Yeah, that was pretty fucking great,” Grace said in agreement. “Was it that much of a rush last night too?”
The grin spread quickly as Nicole embraced the memories. “Fuck yeah it was. Today though? When I took that flying leap, it was the most alive I’ve ever felt.”
Nicole wanted to experience it again too.
“Oh no,” Grace said, though there was no actual worry in her voice. “You’re becoming an adrenaline junkie. Heaven help you.”
Nicole rolled her eyes, trying to not think about the choice of phrase there, especially when taken with the southern accent. She knew nothing would come of her one-sided crush. Nobody would want her, and especially not someone as awesome as Grace. She was the very definition of her name, no way in hell she would be interested in girls at all, let alone some hulked out girl that would put most bodybuilders to shame.
“Maybe I should take up base jumping,” Nicole mused instead, tossing out the first insane thought she could come up with. “Then again, pretty sure I could jump off this building and land just fine after that earlier stunt…”
“Probably,” Grace said. “Uh, maybe wingsuit jumping?”
Nicole chuckled, recalling some of those near miss videos that popped up on social media sometimes. It certainly looked insane, but doing so while morphed would probably take half the thrill out of it, especially with her shade form allowing her to phase through obstacles.
Nicole hopped up, pulling her hooded cape out in both arms like a bastardized wingsuit. Oddly enough, there might be enough material there to fake it. Nicole let her arms drop as Grace snickered at the display.
“I’ll stick to fires for now,” Nicole finally said. “That hasn’t lost its rush just yet.”
“I’d certainly hope not,” Carlos said, stepping into the room. “Sorry if I interrupted anything, but we’re wrapping up down below and some people wanted to thank you before the bulk of responders cleared out.”
“More sleazy corporate types?” Grace asked with a bit of fire in her voice.
Carlos waved that concern off before Nicole could start to spiral. “No, mostly just the crews that didn’t have to go into the worst of it thanks to you two. We’re also keeping the press away. I’ll handle them so you don’t have to.”
Nicole looked away, the heat rising on her cheeks at how quickly he put her fears to rest. The thought that someone might actually want to meet her that wasn’t just a kiss ass or looking to cover for their fuckups was nice. Hell, nobody had really thanked her for what she had done before. It was still very much a new concept, one she wasn’t familiar with in the slightest. Even at the peak of her competition years, when she had a shot at nationals, she never got any positive affirmation from people that weren’t family.
Grace chuckled, reaching for her helmet. “Positive appreciation, that’s something I’m not used to. Gonna be weird as hell.”
Nicole turned, her eyes narrowing a bit. Who the hell wouldn’t appreciate Grace? More importantly, where were they so she could smack them for being idiots?
“It shouldn’t take long,” Carlos said. “Just be warned that a few higher ups with the police and fire side of things will likely want a word too. Maybe the Mayor if he can make it through traffic, which I doubt he will manage given how we set up the cordons, so no worries there.”
Helmet back on, Nicole found herself thankful for that one. She’d actually voted for the guy, and liked what he was doing in general. That would have been awkward as all hell if she actually had to shake his hand and listen to him thank her.
Carlos walked back to the broken window, the pair following behind him. He glanced over the edge, taking a brief moment to survey the area before stepping over the edge without a single care. Nicole hurried over, her fellow Ranger and friend right beside her. She looked over and found him already walking back towards the tents, with plenty of room for them to do much the same.
“You know, it’s kinda funny,” Grace said, looking down where he had landed.
“What’s that,” Nicole asked.
Grace chuckled, stepping up to the ledge before she turned back, her helmet framed by the setting sun. “Before this whole Ranger thing? I was terrified of heights.”
The Red Ranger then fell backwards, dropping with the pull of gravity. Nicole watched her fall, completely unconcerned, then at the last moment Grace twisted, and landed on her feet like a damn cat and once again living up to her name. Nicole couldn’t help but laugh, a slight manic lilt to it as she shook her head at the display.
“Like hell I’m the only junkie among us,” Nicole said, then jumped out the window herself, a smile on her face and every intention to survive the fall.