Ranger felt more confident with his decision to let Lenna use a gun when he saw her expertly handle the weapon in the passenger seat. This new Lenna could handle firearms like the old Lenna. Point in new Lenna’s favor.

Another point in this new Lenna’s favor was when she answered Ranger’s question. It was a little personal, she could have lied or not answered, but she spoke and it didn’t sound like a lie. Granted, the best lies rarely do and he didn’t have Noel around to taste it.

”Interestin’.” Ranger said as he turned his head to look over his shoulder before changing lanes and then turning at an intersection. ”How far away can y’ move things?” Ranger’s mind was processing tactics. If the pair of them had to go guns blazing he wanted to know what Lenna was capable of. Ranger knew he could take care of himself, he had become a one man army, but this new Lenna was still an unknown. ”An’ I like how y’ spin it. That’s smart.”

Ranger pulled up into the area of the address Lenna gave but still a couple blocks away. The Hellcat tamer was not stealth. While it was all black, it was load and mean sounding. It drew attention. ”Let's head the rest on foot.”

How far could she move things? And he liked her spin.

As they drove, she focused out as far as she could. While they were at a stop light, she got his attention and pointed. 200 feet away, a burger wrapper spun in the air. It flew right at them, then landed in a trash can.

”200 feet? Not more.” she said.

—

They drive a bit more, then reached the place. Well, close.

>> “Let's head the rest on foot.”

She nodded. It was a good idea. Lenna turned, and grabbed her bay from the back seat. Then, she got out of the vehicle.

He had not given her a holster. She had the gun and she had the bat. That was TWO things, but she was no complainer. She was a problem solver. Lenna placed the bat diagonally across her back, and focused on the location of the physical contact. With telekinesis, it locked into place. The handle was up, like the hilt of a sheathed katana. She did the same for the gun, placing it the correct way against her right side, where a hip holster would be. As a last touch, she dug the domino mask out and put it back on. Raised her hood.

Lenna passed Mike, and took the lead.

—

It was a several blocks walk. It was mostly done in silence. They spoke of who her friend was (Rachel), who Stone face was (he was not made of stone. His face was rigid, due to a seizure in the past. Locked muscles). They spoke of what to do if there were many guards (sneak), or few (sneak harder). Finally, as they neared the place, she asked if he had any active camouflage powers he had hidden.

They could always pretend she was a prisoner, and him a thug who caught her escaping. That seemed dumb.

”No dragon robot either.” She said.

At a stoplight, Ranger’s attention was directed by Lenna to a burger wrapper. It was about 200 feet away and it started spinning then flew at them and made a perfect swan dive into a trashcan.

”Two-hundred feet, upwards of two to three-hundred pounds. Tha’s not too bad.” Even if she preferred to work with smaller weight, that was still incredibly useful.

Ranger got out of the car and went to the trunk. He popped it and scanned what he had to work with. If it was the Fordasaurus, he’d have had more options. He’d have to make due. A gunbelt and holster for his SIG and a tomahawk to wear on the other side.

After shutting the trunk, Ranger turned to follow Lenna and head toward the warehouse. Her bat and Glock were just stuck to her like glue. No sling, no holster, nothing. They just were there like it was some video game. Lenna took the lead and Ranger followed.

As they made their way, Lenna gave Ranger more of the rundown. Who Stone face was, who Lenna’s friend Rachel was, and more importantly they worked to sketch out a rough plan for guards.

Eventually Lenna asked if Ranger had any active camouflage, ”I’m not so lucky. Gotta sneak the old fashioned way. S’not so hard. “ It wasn’t hard for Ranger, he’d had years of practice. Granted more recently he had spent more time going loud. Shock and awe was just as effective and much faster… When you had a full squad. Just the two of them? Maybe for a room, but not a warehouse.

”Dragon robot?” Ranger asked, turning to look at Lenna. That was an odd thing to mention.

>> ”Two-hundred feet, upwards of two to three-hundred pounds. Tha’s not too bad.”

Lenna nodded in acceptance of the compliment.

—

Lenna noted Mike’s equipment. A SIG, a tomahawk. She had not asked about extra ammunition, but with how often she was planning to utilize the gun, extra might have been the wrong term. Excess was the better word.

He lacked active camouflage. Okay.

He also lacked a robot. She explained.

”You were the green ranger. He had a green dragon robot. He was from some kids show I have been told of, about rangers with powers… It is a joke. As a side note, when I do not focus my powers, they make everything dark orange in my head, so when I met you… you were the orange ranger, with hellcat machine. So there. Anyways…”

Her face was serious, not a joking smile present, as she turned her attention to the warehouse.

”No visible cameras or guards. Security is inside. Building appears rundown, broken window on second story. I think it leads to a catwalk. Do you know Hand signs? Fingers for number, look, all clear, go? You do now, I just showed you while we talked. Are you willing to be levitated up there? You can peek, scout. Sign. Enter. Then, I will follow.”

She would have gone first, but if she lost sight of him while within, she could not have lifted him up. He could lead. With such heroics, they would get him a toy deal yet.

She made a note to set her bat and gun down before she would lift him. To split her power between targets was to lessen total lifting strength.

Ooc feel free to control Lenna lifting you if you want to enter in your post. Orange ranger plus accessories should not exceed 300lbs.

Oh! That’s what Lenna was on about. Ranger shook his head, he knew what she was referring to from when he was a kid. It was not something he had thought about in a long time.

”I’ll take it as a compliment, but don’ expect over the top fightin’ noises from this Green Ranger. ‘R Orange, was there an orange one? I don’ remember there bein’ one.” Ranger said, trying to picture what it must be like to see the world in shades of orange. Closest he ever got was with his night vision. Especially his ultraviolet vision which was mostly shades of purple with a little more.

From there Lenna moved to assessing the warehouse. No visible cameras or guards. Any security was inside, easiest way to secure a facility but not look like it is secured. Have it look like any other run down warehouse.

It was almost amusing, Lenna being patronizing. ”Yes, I know tactical hand signs.” Ranger held up his hand in an ok sign meaning ‘I understand’. ”Sure, float me on up.” Rager looked to the window Lenna had indicated. It was large enough for him to slip in. Ranger gave Lenna a thumbs up.

Ranger tried to prepare himself, but there really is no preparing for suddenly being lifted off your feet and moved toward a window. When he was in a position to see through, Ranger held out a fist indicating to halt. He looked around, making sure the coast was clear then signaled Lenna to move him forward.

To squeeze through in a controlled manner, Ranger pulled the bottom of his shirt up and grabbed the edges of the glass using the shirt to keep the glass from trying to slice his hands. He pulled himself through, flipped around, got one foot on the floor, and gave Lenna an open hand, Stop signal.

Once freed from Lenna’s power, Ranger took stock of what was around him. Empty office room. Door on either side. It looked unused. Likely because it had a broken window. Sell the abandoned angle.

Ranger stuck his head out the window and signaled for her to come.

He was up, and he was in. An action figure toy contract was forthcoming.

Lenna scooped up the bat and the gun, then focused on her own body. She mimicked the path Mike had taken, but with a bit more care. She did not need to worry about broken glass grazing her, because she could see it and hover above it all… rather than deal with it whilst being levitated by someone who could not. She was also smaller in frame than the man. Fit easier.

Her feet touched down on the ground, and her focus turned to once again sheathing the bat and the gun. They returned to their places on her back and her hip. She scanned the area.

Empty office room, doors on either side. She signaled for him to wait, while she checked the first door. Her door had no sounds behind it when she pressed an ear up to listen. Lenna turned to Mike, and drew her gun, holding it down and away by the side of her body. Ready for anything. She nodded for him to check his own.

When he checked, he would find a creaking sound. Footsteps on old boards. There would be two men with flashlights. They were bored, and one would be talking about a sporting event he had lost a lot of money betting on.

She would follow his lead, to take down the second man if he took the first. Silently, if at all possible. No need to attract attention. They probably wanted at least one man conscious for the moment, to learn where the prisoners were… but she had not told him that detail. She really should have.

Lenna floated herself up through the window. She moved far more gracefully than Ranger had. Benefits of being the one doing the floating. From there the pair moved to check doors. Ranger waited while Lenna checked hers.

While waiting, Ranger could hear slight sounds through the door. Muffled speech and creaks. When Lenna gave the go ahead, Ranger lifted on the door handle and opened the door. Taking pressure off the hinges by lifting the door kept it from creaking as Ranger cracked the door enough to see a pair of men. They were walking about a game and almost randomly waving their flashlights around.

Clearly they didn’t expect anyone to approach them up where they were.

Ranger turned to look at Lenna and signaled, ‘two men. I’ll get left, you right.’ He then opened the door further.

A few tentative steps out of the door. Ranger kept closer to the wall where floors tended to creak less. Last thing he wanted to do was alert them. Ranger trusted Lenna to follow his lead when he surged forward the last couple steps and slipped an arm around the man’s neck.

The man’s utterance was cut off by Ranger flexing his biceps. The man’s hands shot up to grab at Ranger’s arms as the blood supply was cut off. Ranger placed his other hand hand behind the man’s head with the hand of the choking arm clasping the inner elbow of that arm.

A few seconds later and the man went limp. Ranger then slid the man into the room and deposited him on the floor.

It was perfectly timed. He took down the first man at the same moment that Lenna choked out the second one. In a perfect world, Lenna would simply have been the appropriate height required to reach up and choke somebody. It would not have been necessary for Lenna to extend her mind outwards, and add one more point of focus to the telekinetic activity she was currently exuding. Two points, two separate areas where her mind bubbled things in orange: The bat, and the man’s neck.

She reached out with her mind, and mentally applied crushing pressure in a force choke maneuver. She wished she had not been holding the gun in two hands, at her side. Had she had one hand free, it could have raised in a perfect mimic of Darth Vader as he did the classic move he was known for, the force choke. But it was not so, for she held her gun at one side, pointed low and away. It was merely her mind which reached out and momentarily reduced the flow of blood to the criminal’s brain such that he made the usual muffled choking, gagging sounds, then went limp within her mind’s grasp. She did not kill him, she applied the Exact right amount of pressure for the Exact right amount of time. This maintained her prodigious kill count of zero. The end result was that two people fell unconscious.

Lenna removed the point of focus, then replaced it by holstering her handgun at her side. She reached into a pocket of her hoodie, and extracted a bundle of plastic zip ties.

Zip ties are wonderful. They are lightweight, comparatively, to the large amount of rope one would be required to achieve similar results. You bound specific points, and they just worked. Barring super strength, they held most people in a position of weakness. They would be unable to rejoin efforts to kill intruders, should they recover from their state of unconsciousness. Lenna briefly added a third point of telekinetic control to the first two, which split her weight limits three ways. This was fine. She levitated the split bundle of ties his way, and removed focus once he had taken them into his control.

Lenna briefly waxed upon how useful her training at the mansion had been for fine control of her powers. Starting out, she had been wholly horrible in regards to focus. Splitting focus points would have been difficult. A level of control like that would have been beyond her, and levitating? Indeed, not. But several years of classes at the mansion, one-on-one training with mansion psychics such as Shard and… others… yes? She was doing fine for herself.

Lenna zip tied the goon, then tore his t-shirt into some rag-like strips, which she stuffed into his mouth. Then, she realized she had wanted to keep one of the two people conscious, for interrogation. She had completely failed, in the moment, to uphold her end of that bargain.

Inwardly, she cursed. It was not Mike Hunt’s fault. It was her own. She had wanted too much to look cool, and thus had focused on the timely dual takedown maneuver. Rather than… something useful, such as keeping one person conscious.

Oh well. He would likely have been impressed.

Why did she wish to impress him?

An excuse. Her otherworldly self had held weight for his approval. She wished to meet his standards, as set by herself… her other self. Rather than to miss them entirely, and be a disappointment. There was no romanticism in this excuse. None existed. More and more, she felt she did not need romance in her life. Nor was she attracted to most people. Thank you, Ty. For wholly poisoning that well, with the bad feels.

Both men were unconscious, zip tied, gagged. They could move on. Lenna gestured for him to once more take the lead, but whispered to him:

”We take one conscious next time. Need to find where prisoners are kept.” That had been said, and now it was his turn to lead the forward movement.

Both men were tied and gagged in the room Lenna and Ranger had made their entrance. Lenna had made use of zip ties, Rangers used the man’s shoelaces against him. Lenna was prepared and Ranger made do. While Ranger could plan ahead, a skill he had cultivated was being able to roll with the situation and create opportunity out of whatever you’re dealt.

Lenna then said they should take one conscious next time. They needed to know where prisoners were held. Ranger nodded. Not in agreement to keep one conscious, but in that they needed intel.

”No need. We’ll see what they know.” Rangers said as he knelt in front of the man he had tied up with shoelaces ”Wakey-wakey.” Ranger said as he rubbed his knuckles into the man’s sternum.

There was a brief moment where the man stirred and his eyes squeezed in pain. Following that, his eyes snapped open and a pained sound made it through the ripped up shirt he was gagged with.

”Mornin’ there friend. Don’t yell. We need some information an’ I don’t think gray matter is the right color paint f’r this room.” Ranger pointed his Sig at the man and removed the gag. He then brought the hand with the gag toward his face and put a finger in front of his mouth. ”Hush, now. Only thing y’ need t’ say is where the prisoners’re bein’ held. Then we’re gone. No harm, no foul.”

For a moment, Lenna has the confusion. None? No need? The rain became apparent as he woke the man. No secret powers, no mind reading mike had hidden. Just technique and time.

He aimed and threatened education.

The man met his eyes for a moment, then glanced away as the shame took him.

“Mask room,” he said hurriedly. “Top floor office, go round out of theses rooms to the catwalk and up a corner flight of stairs that turns up. 3 mutants guard it. One is hidden. And hurry. He’s using it.”

”Using what?” Lenna asked.

He kept staring at the same spot on the wall.

“I didn’t know,” he muttered. “Swear I didn’t. Some mystic artifact, changes them. Kidnapping is old hat, now he’s building something. An army. Under his control. Magic Fucking stone Mask. He thought it was funny, see? When he first got it. Stone faces stone face. Had his right hand man wear it as a joke. Then blood got on— shot why am I talking, you should be going. Now!!”

She made eye contact with Mike. Lenna’s Jaw was tight. Then, she stuffed the gag back into his face.

The answer was not what Ranger expected. Instead of directions, a note about how many guards with guns or maybe a mutant, Ranger got something more eldritch. Mask room, and ‘using it’. It being some kind of mystical artifact. Because of course it was something magic.

Lenna looked to Ranger then returned the gag to the man.

”The fun never stops.” Ranger breathed. ”Let’s move.”

Ranger turned and moved out the door again. What started as a simple extraction was now a mystical cluster. Someone building an army. With a mask. Ranger missed the days of Russian terrorists.

Tmp tmp tmp. The sound of feet on floor. On metal catwalk. Up stairs.

They encountered no threats on the way. It was good. They were apparently in a hurry. She hates mystics. Even their discarded toys caused trouble.

They reached the room before the landing and the final staircase. That was when they met resistance. Two men played cards at a table.
“any 8s?”

“Go-“

Second man dropped his cards as he pushed away from the table, hand dropping to his side where his holster hung.

Lenna focused.

Twp twp twp. Playing cards flew at his face. Harmless, but he flinched and took a step back to put his hands in the way. Lenna took the distraction as an opening to mentally pull the steel chair he was near towards him, to sweep the leg.

She had her gun drawn, but she did not need it. Here was Lenna with the steel chair. A second chair flew at the downed man’s head. It hit his hands. It hit his hands. It hit his hands. It hit his hands. It hit his head. He fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, Mike was left to his own devices in fighting man one.

These two men had been mutants. Second man’s power had never revealed itself. It had been a sort of danger sense, that showed him things coming his way before they did. Fing great in a knife fight or fists or guns. Forewarned is forearmed. See the arm moving for the weapon, be prepared. Move first. It was why Lenna and Mike had not gotten the jump on them. But he had seen no arm going for the cards or the chairs… speaking of forearmed. Well. Four… the Ranger’s man…


——

After that was done, Lenna could not help it. All the stress had gotten to her and the fight had been so easy. Gag man had built it up, and…

Lenna laughed

The ranger laughed.

The table laughed.

The trip across the catwalk was uneventful. Ranger wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign. Either security was light or all resources were concentrated. Whichever the case, Ranger and Lenna would simply have to manage whatever was ahead.

First up was a room with a pair of men playing cards. Someone the men knew something was happening. The reaction was inhumanly fast. He went for a gun but Lenna battered him with his cards before going full on wrestler with the chair.

While that was happening, Ranger moved into the room with enhanced speed and had a hand on the throat of the other man right before he saw that the man had four arms.

The pair seemed to be forewarned and four armed.

Ranger used his momentum to keep the man on the backstep as he was driven toward the far wall. Ranger took a few hits to the side and to his face before he drove the man into the wall. From there he tried to punch the man but the fist was caught by a pair of hands. Ranger went to knee the man but that was caught.

So Ranger slammed his head into the man’s nose. Twice.

When the man let go with one hand to cover his bloody face, Ranger broke his knee free and then drove it into the man’s junk. The man crumpled to the ground and Ranger kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

As Ranger wiped the blood off his face, Lenna started laughing. Ranger joined her. It was a nice release.

The table laughed.

Ranger looked to the table which started running away with a tmp tmp tmp. Ranger drew a knife and sent it sailing into the table top. Which became a man’s back when it shifted into one. The man cried in pain before Ranger could punch his lights out.

”Maybe no one heard that.”

One more had been hidden, just as gag had stated. The table had legs, used them to tmp tmp away. But Mike went fwng whup whup thunk, and dispatched trash with a comical POW.

>> ”Maybe no one heard that.”

”And maybe my shirt is hot pink. It isn’t. Right. I was told it was black…” She had joked, but suddenly grew self conscious. When all things appear orange, you make bad fashion choices sometimes. That was when the ninja struck.

Ninja. Plural. The plural of ninja is…

There were four of them, all illusory. But at the time, neither of them knew this fact.

Two threw stars, at Lenna, at Mike. The other two were off to the side of the room, making rapid hands gestures. Peace sign, devil horns, thumbs up, down, the shocker. Index finger off right hand in and out of hole made with left. Weird stuff like that. Casting spells. A more worldly person may have said. Powering up for a Fireball or some crap. Lenna thought it was stupid.

” What the fu—“

She threw her mind into catching the stars, and throwing them at one of the ninja throwing gang signs. Or tried to. The stars went cleanly through them, ninja undisturbed. IF she had been using her power. She did this for HER ninja. Mike would have to dodge the stars, and handle his ninja. And his other ninja. But the ninja who had been pierced by stars, who she had expected to be pierced, had not been. The stars had not moved at all except to fly at her body— and do absolutely nothing.

Lenna turned her attention away from the ninja.

Her telekinesis had not affected the illusion. Not stopped the ninja throwing hands. Which meant—

‘Distraction,’ Lenna cursed. ‘Ceiling.’

There they were, the real threat. Two Women dressed in black, crawling across the ceiling like it was a floor. They bared their fangs at them, hissed. And flung themselves at her and Mike. Their strength was tremendous.

Ranger looked at Lenna and her clearly not hot pink shirt. He didn’t remember her being colorblind, though even the most aggressively colorblind person should be able to tell black from other lighter colors.

”It’s b-” Was all Ranger got out before ninja attacked.

This was the second time Ranger was working with a woman to rescue another woman that ninja had attacked. It was a bizarre pattern.

Before Ranger could express any thoughts on the issue, throwing stars were in the air. Lenna diverted some with her power leaving Ranger to dive for the ground. The thrown weapons sailed over Ranger as he rolled forward using the momentum from the dive and and sprang up to tackle a ninja.

Only to pass right through it and slam into a wall.

A little unsteady, Ranger whirled around as he brought up his fists. Lenna was looking up at two women dressed in black crawling across the ceiling like in some Japanese horror movie. Ranger had just enough time to register this before one of the women hissed and flung themselves at him.

When dealing with assailants, physics is an interesting thing. Ranger could easily stop the woman’s momentum. He had more mass and could exert a high level of strength. However, once the woman was no longer in the air she could bring her incredible strength to bear.

Ranger threw a punch, the woman caught it. Ranger swung with his other arm and the woman caught that. From there it became a contest of strength as Ranger tried to muscle his arms free from the grip by moving his arms through the woman’s thumbs. The weak point in the grip.

Instead of the grip breaking, the woman simply pulled Ranger’s arms further apart. Ranger’s body grew as his muscles increased in mass and their ability to exert force. No matter how strong he became though, the woman seemed to match it.

Worse, where the woman’s fingers made contact, Ranger could feel his blood being drained.

”Vampires… With their hands.” Ranger called to Lenna before he jumped up and planted his feet on the woman’s upper chest and kicked for all he was worth.