Shift Steel: Rise of the Machines (S2)

"I tried meditating this morning and the results weren't exactly stellar honey I tried to keep my mind clear but AXIM really got to me that night at Moze's grave like I said back then I've been called a lot of things but never stupid before" the green Ranger said disappointed in himself

"I'm sorry I called you an idiot. I guess with all of us together again, everything went haywire to the point we mistook AXIM's actual reason of her arrival. I played the role for making the mess as well." Olivier apologizes genuinely. Then she takes a deep breath, allowing her hands to fall to her lap as she finds the right words to critique. Eventually, she begins, "Now for you, you let Ken get into your skin again. As the result, you lashed out, attacking AXIM in a reckless way. She hasn’t ordered the Cogs to attack all this time. All she wants is to speak with us, but you went ahead to attack until Derek orders you not to."

"You may be a genius but you still have a long way to go. It's like an action-adventure video game. You know, the Legend of Zelda You may have experience, but there are many challenges ahead that will test you, both mentally and physically." Olivier explains, using the video-game lingo to help Cole understand.

Kida slowly got to her feet, setting her mug down. "Kayla...I'm sorry. If you want to be mad at me, that's fine. I probably deserve it. But something you need to know? Kaleb died because Ken tried to use a "failsafe" that he had Cole put into his morpher called "Kingslayer". I didn't know about it until he had Dhazan around the neck and tried to use it to take the Emperor out. Kaleb came in, took the energy from the Kingslayer and used it against Dhazan, but it didn't even scratch him. Your husband died because your son tried to do things his way instead of listening to Moze or watching the way his team was doing things," she said, grabbing her purse.

"And you call sitting in a bunker watching my friends go back into a war a "happy ending" while my wife and daughters are across the country? And I only talk to them on the phone? At least your sons are close." She looked at her friend, biting her lip softly. "I never meant to hurt you, Kayla. I didn't mean for this. But like I said, Kaleb died because Ken did something stupid. I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, and I hope in the future you see that it wasn't my fault." Kida turned and walked out, shutting the front door gently behind her. She turned and put her hand on the door, sighing before looking away, a fire in her eyes. She teleported off of the porch, heading for SPD, the desire to have a few "words" with Ken in her mind.
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Amara sighed softly, watching chat as she set up her game.

VaultHunter420: SHe hasn't streamed on DC in a long time. Surprised she still has a job!

TracersBae6969: Only reason she does is because she's banging the CEO! Any other woman and she'd have been fired a long time ago.

ChiefsArmorCleaner117: Leave her alone, everyone. Amara's always been a top notch streamer, and you're just jealous she's getting dick!

2BCanStepOnMe: Knock it off, guys. You know she watches chat before she logs in! Do you want to have it be members only where we can't watch? Stop being dicks.

DiabloDaddy420: Sure, but they've got points.

2BCanStepOnMe: Doesn't matter. Amara's always been there when we've needed cheering up, and if we can't do that for her, we don't deserve to be her fans.

Amara unmuted her mic. "2B, and Chief, thanks for the support. If you guys don't like that I've taken time off streaming at Dream Chasers, I have still been streaming on the platform, just from the comfort of my own home. The last year's been kind of crazy, and it started with the death of a friend, so yes, I took time to let that all settle in my head. I felt confident in myself today, so thats' why I'm streaming from DC instead of home. Those of you that want to try and tear me down, you're welcome to leave and I'll refund your memberships at the next billing cycle. But I won't stand to have anyone on this platform try and tear me down. Now, can we please get to streaming Horizon Forbidden West? I've been looking forward to this, and I want to make the game enjoyable for everyone."
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Jax, meanwhile, looked at the screens as the alarms went off. "Son of a bitch," he said. He tapped the communications button. "Rangers, looks like AXIM's finally making a move. She's sent Cogs and a Bot, and they're near one of the dispensaries in downtown. I'm sending the location to your Callers. Get there and take out the threat as fast as you can."
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Arriving at SPD, Kida walked in and headed straight for the elevator, heading for the top floor. Walking off, the former Red Ranger stormed into Command. "Ken. We need to talk. Now," she growled, her voice angry. "And no, it will not be done in front of your staff." When she heard Kens' Caller go off, she tapped her communicator on her wrist. "Jax, Ken will catch up with the others. He and I are having a talk that cannot be put on hold."

"Got it. I'll make sure the others know to expect him late."

Derek's blissful livestream was coming to an abrupt halt for two reasons. During the chat, some of his viewers pointed out some of the grief Amara was getting on her stream.

"There's been a lot of shit going on in these past few years that we've had to endure. I fully support her need to take time off as I've always done for anyone under the Dream Chasers banner. Suggesting anything otherwise is flat out stupid. Anyone being this ignorant needs to touch grass."

Derek's impassioned defense was cut off for the second reason the bliss was over. He looked over and saw his morpher going off. "Guys, I've got some pressing business that's come up. I promise we'll resume the stream later." With a wave, Derek ended the live stream. He picked up his morpher and listened to the message.

"This is Derek, I'm on my way." He responded to the message before jumping into action. "SILVER SHIFT!" He morphed in his office before teleporting out, eventually landing at the location.

"So AXIM's really going by the bad guy handbook. Can't say I'm not disappointed." Derek folded his arms in mock disgust, looking at the Cogs and Bot.

Before Olivier can answer, she hears her morpher beeping. Checking it, she hears the information from Jax. "Cole and I will be on our way." She says and then, she teleports to the scene with her husband.

Kida sighed, setting her bag down and listening to Zara yell at Ken. "You're hijacking my tech again, Ken?" she asked. "I told you what would happen the next tiem you did. Just be glad that right now, I don't feel like crippling SPD with a virus that would shut this entire place down in an instant and it's a virus that not even Cole could fix."

Kida's hands clenched, her anger overtaking her exaspperation. "I was just at your mothers. She asked me about the timeline change, my wife, everything that happened when you all went back in time to the first Tok'Ra war. Remember that? And she asked about my family. I told her they're in New Tech living while I'm standing here fighting another fucking war. You know what Kayla told me? You haven't spoken to her about anything that isn't SPD or the Machine Empire since your fathers funeral. I knew you were a self-centered dick, but I didn't know you'd take it to the extreme of ignoring the woman you gave birth to your ungrateful ass. And by the way, speaking about the whole "You changed timelines" thing, Dereks' no longer allowed anywhere near your family and your mother ended our friendship because, in her words, "Your family gets put back together and mine's falling apart at the seams." She threw her coffee cup, her favorite one--the one she told me once that YOU bought for her, and shattered it when she threw me out of the house. Saying "If it's not Ranger business, I dont' ever want to see you" and threw me out. The one non-Ranger friend I had threw me out because of something I had literaly no control over."

She looked at Zara and then back to Ken before taking a deep breath and continuing on. "You're obsessed with the Machine Empire, and it's not your place to be. You aren't me or Jax. We tell you when the Machines attack, you don't go hitching a ride on mine, Jax's, and Billy's tech to suit your vendetta. And that's exactly what it is, a vendetta. Because you're butthurt that Moze and your father died while you have to live. You ever get your head out of your ass long enough to think maybe they died so you could have a life? That Moze saw something in you that you didnt' see in yourself? That you had the potentional to be a leader, but instead you're letting this obsession go to your head and be your entire fucking focus. You say you want to be the kind of man your father'd be proud of, but if Kaleb could see you, he'd be pissed off you're going like this."

Kida took a breath, getting her anger under control. "I'm only going to say this once and once only, Ken. You stop hacking my systems to find the Machine Empire, because we know they're on the Moon. We know what AXIM and Gasket want. They want the six of you dead: you, Cole, Amara, Derek, Jun, and Olivier. We're looking for a new Red Ranger, but the Grid is taking it's time finding a suitable person. Stop obsession of the Machine Empire, run SPD like your father would have, and for fucks sake, get yourself some help. I know SPD has councellors. You need therapy, Ken, and running yourself like this is only going to make your issues and problems worse. Please, for the love of God, get some help."

"I was referring to his actions a couple days ago" Zara clarified as she listened to Kida unload on Ken it was then the red Ranger's turn to go again "do you know what the most important thing to Kaleb was?



It wasn't his trophies or his ego or even SPD it was his family you, Kayla, and even Cole were the most important things in his life you three were his whole world and Cole never even called him dad nothing was more important to Kaleb then family you were his kingdom I can't speak for Moze but I imagine she was similar" Zara let out a sigh of exasperation "he loved you Ken and he wouldn't want to see you like this he would want you to step up and an be the man of the house be there for your mom and your brother now that he can't be" Zara said gently all her anger gone "can you do that your Majesty?Zara wondered if Kida had anything to add as she gently hugged her nephew

After hearing the call, Jun teleport to meet up with Olivier, Cole and Derek, "Alright, I'm here," he said, cracking his knuckles.