Battle Heroes X Vetera: S01E13

Plane, Train, and Pain (Part 2) is the thirteenth episode of Battle Heroes X Vetera and is the second part of the two part episode. The plot involves the heroes and their new allies fighting to complete the mission when things turn sour.

When things turn sour on the train, the heroes and their new allies must fight to complete the mission.

## The Episode

"Alright, just need to...there."

Roger was in the engine room, fastening some bolts into said engine. The damage done had been minor. Parts had been removed or bent, but it was nothing that couldn't be undone. As he put on the finishing touch, he could feel the train slowly accelerating. Back on track.

"Sometimes, I think I got into the wrong job field," Roger said to himself, pleased. The loud but controlled whirling of machines, the simplicity of blueprints, almost made him feel at home.

Behind him, he heard footsteps coming from the outside. Immediately, his stiff composure returned. "Julius?" He called out.

A resounding bang on the door took that thought right out of his head. A long barreled sniper rifle materialized in his hands and he aimed at the door. Another bang filled the car. Finally, the door was busted off its hinges, Rufus' imposing form stepping in. His jagged stance and the ever present purple aura indicated he was still not in control of his actions.

"Rufus, if you can hear me in there, this isn't you," Roger began, appealing to his humanity.

Only a low guttural growl returned. The red ranger approached his teammate. Rufus tightened his aim. "Don't come any closer. I don't want to use this."

When Rufus' took another step, Roger squeezed the trigger. A projectile burst from the barrel and sunk into Rufus' shoulder. He roared in pain, swinging his gauntlet clad hand down to remove whatever had hit him from his body. A metal dart clattered to the ground. Rufus lightly stumbled forward.

"Tranquilizer round," Roger stated. "You'll be okay, probably hate me when you eventually wake up."

To Roger's surprise however, Rufus trudged forward, suffering no other symptoms besides his previous stumble. Roger fired again, another tranquilizer round finding itself in his leg. Again, it was knocked off. A faint panic was quickly escalating in Roger. There was enough tranquilizer in those shots to knock out two fully grown humans. Rufus roared again and charged Roger, swinging his arm in a clothesline. Roger rolled under the attack, dismissing his rifle. It seemed he would have to help the tranquilizers took effect. Rufus snapped around, facing Roger. Those weapons of his gave his strikes the force of a sledgehammer. Hand-to-hand combat was off the table. Roger's analyzing was cut short by Rufus' fist approaching his face. He ducked the punch and reached up, putting his hand on Rufus' neck. He then pivoted around to behind him, putting him in a chokehold.

"Come on, go to sleep," Roger said, half begging. If he could just keep the hold for long enough, the combination of the tranquilizer and the lack of oxygen would put him down. Rufus' fists rose up and pounded on Roger's head. The strikes were all fury and the pain showed, but he continued to hold steady. Eventually, the hits started to slow, then the power behind them weakened. Finally, Rufus stopped altogether and when Roger let go, his body collapsed to the ground.

Roger clasped his aching head, allowing himself to focus on the pain. "Ooh...I'm in the wrong profession for sure."

After taking his moment, he grabbed his morpher and dialed a number, putting it to his ear. Edward would want to hear about this, he was next in command. It would also be humorous to hear his reaction to incapacitating the force that was Rufus. As he listened to the ring, something appeared that made his blood turn cold. In the now bare doorway, the Negative Ranger stepped into the car.

Edward's ever jovial voice filled his ear. "Roger! What's happening?"

"Edward, I need you guys to come over here, now!" Roger exclaimed into the phone as purple tendrils of fog shot out from his arm, surrounding him in darkness.

...

Edward and the heroes continued to make their way to the back of the train. The green ranger led the charge, with Zack and Cloud close behind. They leapt from train car to train car under the night sky. Julius was lagging behind.

"Come on, Julius, hurry up!" Zack said from ahead.

Despite his words, Julius continued his slow pace. It was hard to see at the moment. The red ranger put a finger to around where his right eye was. The entire region was swollen to the size of a baseball. *Already look like a sissy once, can't do it again.*

"Coming!" He yelled back, starting to catch up. "So...what's the plan?"

"The plan?" Edward called from ahead. "Working on it. This Negative Ranger, how do people break out of his control?"

"It's the void that causes people to go crazy like that," Cloud answered. "The last time it happened, it just went away on its own eventually."

"I'm guessing we don't have the kind of time to wait it out." Edward noted. "Which means...dammit."

"What's wrong?"

"Delivering the black box is our top priority. No matter what. And if anything or anyone gets in the way of that..."

If his face wasn't so swollen, Julius would have widened his eyes in shock. "Woah woah woah! You're not talking about...killing him, right?"

Edward didn't immediately answer. "We're rangers. SPD rangers. We have a duty to protect and serve. The mission comes before everything else. I'm hoping it doesn't come down to it, but it might."

The rest of the journey was in silence, the tension was high. Eventually, they stopped three cars away from the caboose. The second to last car was for the engine. The first thing they noticed was the silver door, or lack thereof.

Edward groaned. "That's not a good sign. Doesn't help I can't see anything in there. Oh, wait!" He summoned one of his blasters. This one had a scope on it. Peering in, he could see a little better. He could see the Negative Ranger, standing over someone sitting on the ground. Someone with blue boots...

"Roger! Tall, dark, and deadly has him!"

Zack turned to Edward. "Tall, dark, and deadly?"

"Negative Ranger, whatever," Edward replied, looking through the scope some more. "It looks like he's interrogating him." Through the scope, Edward could see Rufus now. The red ranger stepped towards Roger and hit him square in the gut. "And Rufus is working him over!"

"Time for some action!" Cloud announced, preparing to run straight in. Edward put his arm in front of him.

"No can do. We do that, we'll get hit with a hostage situation. 'Bring me the black box or I'll kill your friend,'" He pointed out. "Actually...that works. You and Zack approach from the front. I'll come in from the rear door and dump some mags into the prince of darkness."

Zack nodded in agreement. "Good plan."

"Yeah, but c'mon, quit trying to top Negative Ranger! And what about Julius?"

Edward looked to the red ranger. "Oh yeah. Julius..."

The swelling was getting worse. He couldn't hide it anymore. Dismissing his helmet, he displayed the results of Rufus' handiwork. "I...I'm useless right now. Can barely see anything," He admitted.

Edward took a look. "Eesh, he's right." He handed the briefcase containing the black box off to him. "Bring this to Marge and Tina. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good. Alright you two, get in there and make a nice distraction while I flank!"

Zack and Cloud jumped off the train car and leapt around until they arrived at the doorway to the engine car. Inside, they saw Roger lying on the ground, clutching his stomach. The Negative Ranger and Rufus stood before him.

"My patience wears thin. Where is the flight recorder?" He pointed at Roger, and Rufus raised his fists. "Speak, while you still can."

"I'm not telling you a..." Roger had a coughing fit. "...Damn thing."

"Step away from the blue ranger!" Zack commanded, walking into the room beside Cloud. He summoned his katana and Cloud summoned his tomahawk.

The Negative Ranger looked the duo up and down. "You two. Maybe you can help me better than he has."

Rufus bent down and put his forearm to Roger's neck. He raised his right arm in the air, ready to bear it down on the blue ranger. Zack and Cloud raised their hands up.

"Hey, hey! No need for all that, okay?" Cloud exclaimed.

"Don't hurt him. We'll talk. We'll give you whatever you need," Zack offered.

"Smart," The Negative Ranger replied. Rufus let off, but still stood over Roger. "Now, where is the flight recorder?"

Zack and Cloud looked at each other. Cloud scratched his helmet. "Flight recorder? What's that?"

"Sounds like a movie you watch on an airplane," Zack guessed, talking slowly. "Flight recorder...flight recorder..."

The Negative Ranger glared at the two. Rufus got back into position. "Still trying to remember?"

"Oh oh! I think I know what he's talking about!" Cloud said. "The, uh, black box!"

"Ohh, why didn't he just say that? That's uh..."

From behind the Negative Ranger, the other door to the engine car opened, Edward waltzing in with two blasters in hand. "I got your recorder right here!"

The Negative Ranger turned around and caught two green bolts of energy to the chest. Then two more. Edward kept firing, walking more and more into the room as he fired. By the eighth shot, the Negative Ranger had fallen to the ground. Using the distraction, Cloud surged forward and tackled Rufus off Roger. Zack ran to his side and put his arms under his shoulders, dragging him to the door opening. When both his weapons ran out of shots, Edward simply tossed them to the side. The Negative Ranger's dark armor was lightened by bright green marks on the shattered chestplate. Smoke emanated from it.

Edward took a deep breath. "Target looks to be neutralized"

Rufus shoved Cloud off him, but as he got up, Edward summoned two new blasters and aimed them at him. "And now..."

Zack and Cloud brandished their weapons as well. Rufus watched them blankly, rising to one knee.

"Come on, man, I don't wanna do this..." Edward quietly pleaded. "Just go back to normal, huh?"

Unbeknownst to the heroes, the Negative Ranger was slowly recovering from his wounds. The exposed wounds on his chest began to close. He got up, his right hand pulsing with dark energy. Cocking it back, he swung his right arm and back handed Edward, the hit punctuated with a bright purple explosion. Edward went sailing backwards the way he came, his flight only being stopped by the silver door of the other train car.

"Ooh...anyone have some icy hot?" He weakly called from outside.

Rufus got to his feet and took a step towards Roger,, but Zack and Cloud blocked his path. He put up his fists, ready for a fight. The Negative Ranger turned his attention to Edward.

"I'm...going to make your suffer for that," He announced, marching towards the door and the green ranger.

Zack and Cloud looked at Rufus carefully. Although they had the numbers advantage, this was one heavy hitter.

"We don't have to take him out unless absolutely necessary, right?" Cloud asked.

"Right. Just wish someone would tell *him* that," Zack commented.

Rufus threw out a few punches into thin air, then did a fake-out move. Neither hero budged. Stepping toward Zack, Rufus threw a cross. Zack raised his sword and blocked the punch. Cloud moved forward and swung with the end of his tomahawk. Rufus backed up and avoided the strike, then returned with a body shot. The blue ranger staggered back and Zack came in, swinging his blade downward. Rufus deflected the sword by swinging with his left gauntlet, then blocked an additional midsection slash. He swiped in front of him, with Zack stepping back to evade it. Cloud got back into the fight with a flying kick to Rufus' side while he was facing Zack. The kick caused him to tumble over on the ground, where he quickly recovered from. Zack went for a horizontal slash, which he ducked under and he wrapped his arms around the green ranger's leg, raising him up by it and slamming him onto the ground. Before he could follow up, Rufus backpedaled to avoid an overhead chop by Cloud and retaliated by delivering a right and left gut punch, then a right uppercut. Cloud was knocked off his feet and into the air, landing on his back. Zack shook off the slam he had taken and reached for his katana, but Rufus' foot landed on it, preventing him from getting his weapon. As he got to his feet, Zack performed a left hand uppercut as he rose, which was slapped away by Rufus. Using his right, he threw a hook which connected with Rufus' head. He then threw a feint, which Rufus fell for by raising his arms up to block. Zack bent low and landed a solid punch to the stomach and Rufus doubled over. Cloud, still rubbing his chin where he had taken the uppercut, got up and saw the opportunity for a decisive hit.

"Hey, Zack! Make way!" He called out, running towards the two of them. Zack saw Cloud and got behind Rufus, putting him in a full nelson hold. Just before reaching them, Cloud jumped up and raised his feet, dropkicking Rufus in the stomach. Zack shoved him onto the floor and put his foot on his back. Cloud summoned a pair of handcuffs and grabbed Rufus' hands, placing the restraints on him. Struggle as he might, Rufus was unable to free himself from their grasp. Zack and Cloud breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nice work back there, Cloud," Zack commended, getting off of Rufus' back. "How long have you been practicing that dropkick for?"

"Since I used it on Julius that one time," Cloud answered. "I saw an opportunity, and I took it!"

From the corner of the room, Roger let out a moan. Zack and Cloud rushed to his side.

"Ah, crap. You got roughed up pretty bad," Zack observed. "Let's get you up."

Roger held a hand up and tried to get up on his own. "I'm fine...I..." He stumbled to the ground. Zack and Cloud put their arms around his and helped him up now.

"Thank you," He responded, lightly hissing in pain.

"Hey, guys. How can I help?"

Zack and Cloud turned to the doorway, where Julius stood. He still had the briefcase in hand.

Zack sighed. "Julius, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be bringing that to Marge and Tina?"

"I thought about it, but then I realized that I should be useful. And being the delivery guy isn't."

"Getting the mission objective away from danger *is* being useful. Ah, whatever, come help with Roger. I'm gonna go check on Edward."

Julius quickly ran over and replaced Zack in holding up Roger. "Let's get you to the other train car," Julius said reassuringly.

Zack left the train car and climbed up to the roof of the next car to watch Edward and the Negative ranger fight. The green ranger was fighting at range with his blasters, while the Negative Ranger attempted to break the distance and get close. He leapt into the air at Edward, who slid under and kept firing at his back.

"Rufus is taken care of! Got him in cuffs down there!" Zack announced. "Need some help?"

Edward's blasters ran out of ammo and he tossed them away, summoning new ones. "No way, I have him on the ropes!"

The Negative Ranger show

"You know you can reload those things, right?"

Edward kept "I have a whole weapons database full of blasters! It's easier this way!"

Zack was about to give a whole speech on resource management when he heard talking behind him. Julius and Cloud were guiding Roger out of the engine car.