Chapter Eight
Aquila vs. the Sun Mask
Aquila glanced up to see the carnage around him. Several storefronts were in flames, with a number of civilians lying on the ground covered in severe burns. He sat back, letting his companions up.
“What was that?” Tammy asked, looking around.
“The Sun Mask, I expect,” Aquila said.
The general scowled, looking around at the burning street. He pulled out a small communicator. “We need an emergency response team out here now!” he said. He looked over at Tammy and Aquila. “Change of plans,” he said. “Hayes, get him into our safe room and keep him there until further notice. Let’s go!”
The three got to their feet and ran back through the flames to the storefront. The door blew open as they approached, and the waitress and the patron couple rushed out, all three brandishing firearms. A team dressed in EAGLE medical uniforms followed them out, rushing immediately to the nearest civilians.
“Get inside,” the general said, holding the door open for Tammy and Aquila. “If what you’ve told me is true, Tammy, and the Black Cross really are after him, we have to make sure they don’t get him.”
He glanced at Aquila for just a second, his eyes scanning his face uncertainly. “I certainly hope Tammy is right about you.”
He handed off the door to Tammy and pulled a gun from under his apron to join his troops.
“Come on,” Tammy said, holding the door and pulling on Aquila's arm. “There’s a safe room in here. You’ll be safe there.”
Aquila pulled back, hesitating at the door, staring in to the security the restaurant offered. He glanced back at the fire behind him, at the burn victims now being treated, the EAGLE agents ready to face whatever threat came their way. A threat that was only here because of him.
“Aquila,” Tammy said again. Aquila looked back at her, her eyes pleading. “Please,” she said. “We’ll keep you safe, I promise.”
Aquila’s heart yearned to just go with her. He looked past her, into the shop. It could still be a trap, he knew, but even more than that, he couldn’t bring himself to let someone else fight and die in a battle he caused while he sat in a room and did nothing. He stepped back, pulling his arm from her grip.
“No,” he said.
Tammy looked up at him, her eyes questioning.
Aquila looked away from her, turning to face the street once again. “I can’t do it,” he said. He stepped forward to join General Kenpachi and his agents. “I can’t run away from this.”
Tammy opened her mouth to argue, but just as quickly closed it. She looked down, pulling her gun from her hip and joining him. “Alright,” she said quietly.
General Kenpachi and Katie both looked back at him. Katie fixed him with her glare once again, but she didn’t try to stop him. “Don’t get yourself captured,” she said.
A single door opened on the far side of the street, the building where Aquila had seen the figure on its roof. Five figures stepped out, each wearing a distinct mask. The first wore a bright rainbow-colored mask, wielding a bladed staff in one hand. The next one over wore what looked like a mirror with holes for the eyes. On the other end of the line stood a mask with a mop of long black hair draped around their face, this one standing beside a mask dressed as a cyclops. In the center, leading the group, was a man dressed in full musketeer regalia and carrying a rapier at his belt.
“Well, well, well,” the swordsman said, stepping around a flaming car. He tilted his head as he looked over Aquila. “You must be this Mr. Cassidy we’ve heard so much about.”
Aquila scowled, clenching his fist. “How did you find me?”
The swordsman drew his rapier. “Oh, please, we’ve been tracking you all the way from Corinth. Do you really think someone like our boss would let you get away that easily?” He tossed his sword back and forth between his hands. “You should watch your back a little more often.”
The other Masks around him chuckled. “Now,” the swordsman said, holding out his rapier in a challenging stance. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? En garde!”
Aquila crouched low, his muscles tensing. Tammy and the agents behind him held their guns at the ready. “We’ve got your back,” Tammy said.
Aquila nodded. Taking a deep breath, he faced his opponents and charged forward. The swordsman raised his blade charged to meet him, followed by his fellow masks.
“Let’s back him up!” the general behind him shouted. Bullets rang out around him, striking the Rainbow and the Cyclops. Aquila raised his arm and blocked the oncoming rapier, grabbing it and snapping it in two before delivering a powerful kick to its wielder’s chest. He then spun and punched the Mirror Mask in the face, shattering it on impact. The Mask screamed and fell backwards. The Rainbow Mask had recovered enough to charge at him with his staff lowered. Aquila grabbed the end and used it to flip the Rainbow Mask up and over his head, bringing him down on top of the Long-Haired Mask.
The Cyclops barreled into him. This guy was clearly the bruiser of the group, and quite nearly took Aquila out on his own. Aquila turned and planted his feet, grabbing the Cyclops by the shoulders and tossing him over on top of the Rainbow and Long-Haired Masks. He turned to see the Sword Mask coming back at him, pulling a knife directly from his mask. Aquila caught him on the strike, wrenched the blade from his hand, and stabbed him in the side with it.
After only a few minutes, all five were down, and Aquila stood in the middle of a pile of unconscious bodies, Tammy and her fellow agents around him.
A loud clapping sounded from the building where they’d come from. Aquila turned. “Well done,” the Sun Mask said, stepping out of the shadows.
“You,” Aquila said.
The Sun Mask laughed, turning his flaming staff in his hand. “I knew you were good, Mr. Cassidy,” he said. He patted a spot on his side where Aquila distinctly remembered punching him. “I felt that for myself.” He stepped closer, stepping over the Cyclops Mask. “But to take down my best men, almost without help. I truly am impressed.”
He looked around at the agents standing behind Aquila. “You seem to have made some friends.” He tucked his staff into his arm and clapped loudly. “So have I.”
At his command, dozens of Black Cross foot soldiers started emerging from the woodwork all around them. Some appeared from dark alleys between the building, stepping out of the shadows like they were almost an extension of them. Some stepped out of the various shops lining the street, where they had likely been lying in wait. Still more flooded out of the building the Sun Mask had just emerged from, surrounding their leader and brandishing heavy firearms.
“So, Mr. Cassidy,” the Sun Mask asked. “Shall we do this the easy way or the hard way?”
Aquila swallowed and looked around. He imagined he could fight his way through them all, at least enough to get away, but Tammy and her comrades couldn’t. He hesitated, briefly considered giving himself up when he felt a light touch on his arm. He turned to see Katie standing with her gun pointed at the nearest soldier.
“Don’t worry,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “We’ve got some backup too.” She tilted her head slightly toward General Kenpachi. Aquila glanced back to see him subtly whispering into a communicator.
“Wait for my signal,” he heard him say. “Is Red Boy on his way.”
“Not yet, sir,” a voice said on the other side. “He will be soon.”
Red Boy? Aquila thought. He shook his head and turned back to face the Sun Mask.
“Well, Mr. Cassidy?”
Aquila took a deep breath and chose, for now, to trust in them. He rolled his shoulders and flashed the Sun Mask a cocky grin. “Well, you know,” he said. “I grew up on a farm. I’m not particularly used to doing things the easy way.” He tipped his hat to him. “And I don’t mind a little sun.”
The Sun Mask scoffed. “Have it your way, then,” he said. He lowered his staff and pointed it at them, the gemstone in its center starting to glow as heat emanated from it. Aquila crouched down, his back still throbbing from the last time he went up against that staff. He charged forward, slamming into the Sun Mask with all his might, throwing him backwards and grabbing the staff to thrust it upwards, just as a burst of fire shot from it, going wild and striking the side of a building nearby.
The Sun Mask hit the ground hard. He sat up and got back to his feet. “Nice,” he said. “Very nice. I can’t wait until I have your power coursing through me.”
He raised his staff to his troops. “Keep the others busy for me, will you?”
He rushed back at Aquila and hit him with a surprising amount of force, striking him with the edge of his staff. All around them, Black Cross soldiers surged forward, surrounding Tammy and her companions as they circled up and stood back to back. “Now!” the general shouted into his comm.
Gon’s entire storefront shifted open as EAGLE soldiers spilled out onto the street. Figures appeared on the rooftops above them, tossing ropes down the side to scale down them. And if that weren’t enough, strong winds started to pound down on the battlefield as a shadow blocked out the sun. An enormous airship appeared in the sky above the skyscrapers, painted a bright white with red flames along the sides. Huge turbines spun in the wings, creating the terrible winds that whipped at the army below and keeping the airship aloft. The airship’s belly opened up, releasing even more EAGLE soldiers on parachutes, descending right into the middle of the crowd.
“Let’s take them down!” the general shouted.
Aquila smiled, despite himself. He turned back to face the Sun Mask.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, pushing back on the staff and grappling with the Sun Mask for it.
“My pleasure,” the Sun Mask said. His staff glowed again and blasted a beam of fire onto his shoulder. He screamed out in pain and yanked with all his might, pulling the staff out of his hands and throwing it away.
“Enough of that!” he shouted, rushing in and pummeling the Sun Mask in the gut with his fist.
The Sun Mask stumbled slightly but stood his ground. He carefully felt the spots where he’d been hit. “You’re not going to beat me that way,” he said. “I have trained my body through years of intense discipline to take hits like that and keep going. I can do this all day. Can you?”
Aquila stepped back. He rubbed his shoulder where he’d been burned and tried to think. He didn’t have much of a mind for strategy. He never had. In his training, he found he worked much better in a support role rather than as the leader. Meanwhile this was one of the Black Cross’s top brass, a man who clearly knew how to command a battlefield better than he ever could.
“Is that really all you’ve got, Mr. Superhuman?” the Sun Mask asked. “Nothing but punches?” He shook his head in disgust. “These powers truly were wasted on you, weren’t they? You’re like a stupid little monkey, pretending at being a god without understanding the real power that it entails.”
He bent and picked up his staff where it had been dropped. “Would you like a little more fire, monkey?” He held the staff up and the gem started to glow. Aquila braced himself to dodge out of the way just as a gunshot rang out just behind his ear, striking the Sun Mask right between the eyes and knocking him back.
Tammy stepped up beside Aquila. “Can you take one of those?” she asked. She glanced over at Aquila and smiled at him.
The Sun Mask stumbled, reaching his hand up to feel his mask, which now had a massive crack splitting it down the middle. He glared at her, holding it together as best he could. He gestured to the soldiers closest to him. “Get them,” he shouted, falling back.
The soldiers flooded forward, allowing the Sun Mask to escape. Aquila and Tammy looked at each other and nodded, standing back to back to fend off the oncoming swarm of enemy soldiers as they rushed toward them. Tammy picked them off one by one with her gun, while Aquila fended them off with his fists. He glanced back at her, wishing he had a firearm of his own. He’d always been a better shooter than a melee fighter, but he hadn’t managed to hold on to one for a few years now.
He and Tammy fought valiantly for a few minutes as the battle raged all around them, Aquila focusing primarily on the soldiers directly in front of him. He sideswiped a soldier that tried to get in close to Tammy while she was focusing on another target, and she sniped another soldier who was taking aim at Aquila through a crowd that had rushed in on him.
The battle was nearly over when he felt a burst of heat behind him and Tammy let out a scream of agony. Aquila spun on the spot to see Tammy hit the ground, her left side covered in severe burns. “Tammy!” he shouted.
He looked up to see the top of the Sun Mask’s head retreating through the crowd beyond her. General Kenpachi and Katie appeared through the crowd, kneeling beside her. “She needs medical attention,” Katie said, as Tammy’s body shivered, her eyes rolling with pain.
Aquila’s eyes followed the Sun Mask, anger building inside him. He moved aside, letting General Kenpachi move in to help her up. He got to his feet and charged after the Sun Mask, plowing his way through the crowd and throwing soldiers left and right, crossing the distance in a matter of seconds. He slammed into the Sun Mask, grabbing him and forcing him to the ground with all of his might.
The Sun Mask fought back one-handed as Aquila pummeled and beat at him in a furious rage, his other hand holding the mask tightly to his face. Aquila reached in and grabbed at the edges of the mask to pry it off of him. The Sun Mask fought and struggled, clasping his gloved hands around Aquila’s wrists to stop him, but it was no use. With a mighty tug, Aquila tore both halves of the mask off his face and sent them skittering across the pavement nearby.
The battleground fell silent around them as Aquila stared at the Sun Mask’s exposed face. He was a bald, slightly older man, with a stern, stone-like expression covered in heavy scars. His cold eyes stared back at him before falling on the pieces of his mask nearby.
“It seems you have defeated me, Mr. Cassidy,” he said, dropping his hands and laying his head back with quiet dignity. “I am a Mask no longer.”
Aquila rose, staring in shock. He turned to face the rest of the Black Cross soldiers around him, all of whom were staring at the boss in stunned silence.
“Who else wants some?” he asked, bracing for a fight.
Before any could respond however, a shout drew their attention to something in the sky. “It’s him!”
Aquila followed their gaze to see a tiny, bright red figure flying through the sky toward them.
If the loss of their boss hadn’t been enough to scare them off, clearly the arrival of this person was. While several soldiers stood their ground, the majority went into full panic mode, scattering like mice back into the shadows they came from. In a flash, the figure hit the ground right in front of Aquila, rising to give Aquila his first real look at a full-fledged Power Ranger.
“Well, hello there,” the ranger said, looking at Aquila through a blue, slightly transparent visor. “You must be the person responsible for all this trouble.”
Aquila nodded, his mouth slightly open. “That’s me,” he stuttered.
The ranger was silent for a moment, looking around at the chaos around him. “Well, thanks for the help, anyway,” he said. He turned away to face the remaining Black Cross. “You’d best get inside now. I’ll take it from here.”
The man clenched his hand to his side and a blaster seemed to almost magically appear there. “I see all the smart ones cleared out,” he shouted to the remaining soldiers. “Time for me to clear out the stupid ones.”
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