To be fair, Goldar didn't complain about carrying the crates, but it's clear that patiently working through a plan isn't really his thing.
"What do you know about tsunamis?"
He's a fighter, not a planner. Usually, they just throw Putties at logistical matters.
"Great waves. I've seen them triggered by ships falling from orbit and striking an ocean. Do you mean to trigger one with your bomb?"
"No. This is a multi-stage trigger. You see…" I turn in a circle, right arm extended. "This entire coastline is poised to fall into the sea. When it does, it will trigger a tsunami that will spread across the Atlantic Ocean-."
Ooh, nasty. The Rangers would
have to respond to a threat like that.
Squatt tilts his head to the side in confusion.
I point to the ocean. "That one."
To be fair, do any of Team Evil know
anything about Earth beyond 'It's there, let's conquer it.'?
"Errr…" He looks at it, then back to me and Goldar. "I knew that."
"Seriously, how long have you people been here? Which of you is responsible for intelligence analysis?"
...Please don't say Squatt. I doubt he could
spell the word.
Squatt shakes his head. "Not me!"
"Our Mistress can see anywhere on Earth with a wave of her staff. What more do we need?"
...Thank goodness. And honestly, this is
entirely what you'd expect.
"Do you think that Ms. Repulsa might be willing to make more potion? My fiancée specialised in the field. It's helpful to be able to know where the points of vulnerability are before you attack them. For example, the Power Rangers have launched their zords from the same hangar for years now. Do you know where the hangars are?"
Already thinking of the future, eh?
"No. Fine. You've made your point." He strikes a pose, clenching his right fist. "It would be nice to confront them at the source of their strength and watch them fall powerless to the ground before ending them once and for all."
I dismiss the drill and replace it with a construct crane, gently lowering the crate into the hole.
Sadly, I get the feeling Goldar prefers to think with his sword-arm...
"Uh." Goldar and I make momentary eye contact as we brace for incoming stupid. "Isn't this a long way away from where the Power Rangers live?"
"Yes. In fact, this won't directly affect Angel Grove at all, as there's a continent in the way. It will however ruin all of the cities on the east coast of North America if it's allowed to detonate."
And do a bit of a number on every other country nearby too.
"So are we gunna turn it off?"
"No. The Rangers will."
Goldar smiles. "You will lure them here with a threat to North America, and then detonate the bombs when they try to retrieve them? Magnificent!"
...Where's the fun in that? Weren't you
just saying something about beating their asses and gloating over them?
"No. If I detonate the bomb, the coast will be destroyed, and that will significantly reduce the economic capacity of the planet. I want Ms. Repulsa to take possession of a planet that is as pristine as possible. The bomb is a lure, and it could serve as a contingency, but the primary purpose is to force the Rangers to split up. Once that is done, I will take the Red Ranger, you will take the Blue and Squatt and the putties will take the Yellow."
To be honest, I wouldn't even set them up with
live detonators. I doubt the bad guys would even know the difference.
"What about the other two?"
I shrug. "Who cares? All of their most powerful weapons and zord combinations require all five of them to be active. They could conceivably draft one replacement, but three-." I pointedly look at Squatt. "Or two, would be harder. And the replacements would have no experience."
Amusingly, they had no trouble doing that when they ended up needing to.
And true, the rookies
did take a little while to settle into their powers...
"Why those three?"
"Black and Pink have heavier ranged weapons: the bow and the axe's gun mode. Red, Blue and Yellow have to either engage at short range or use their weaker sidearms, and we can all take those."
Not that OL would deign to engage in
melee. Unless he's being
very judicious about construct usage.
"Mm." He nods. "A sound decision. But why are you so confident of your ability to take their leader?"
"I'm not. But I know that I'm joining the team late in the day and I want to prove my value. I have a lot riding on this."
Plus, they can have a nice conversation while hoo'ing and ha'ing about the field.
The crate reaches the bottom of the shaft, so I dismiss the crane construct and use a bulldozer construct to push soil back into the hole. Wouldn't want anyone tripping and falling down the hole. Workplace health and safety is important.
"Okay, that should do for now. Goldar, would you please trigger the teleportation system? Our next destination is Yellowstone Park."
And making the Rangers have to dig a hole to find it probably delays them a bit.
He looks blank-.
I generate a construct globe and make it with a targetting reticle.
...I'm amazed these guys even know where
Angel Grove is. I suppose the Ranger's energy signature allows that much.
"Here."
"That's not on a coast."
Gee, good observational skills there.
I'm guessing he never bothered to learn about plate tectonics.
"No, it's over the magma chamber of a supervolcano."
"A supervolcano?!" Squatt.. sort of hornpipes, waving his arms excitedly. "That sounds super! Ah… What do they do?"
Ah, the inevitable overacting of the facial-animation-limited.
Goldar smiles. "They explode, devastating the land for miles around with molten rock and cover the atmosphere of the entire world in choking dust and ash."
"There are four that could be activated with these devices. But I don't want to repeat myself too often. Two should be fine. The teleporter?"
Ah, good, you
do know more than sword-fighting.
Ring, scan.
Compliance.
The putties go first, drawn upwards for a moment and then vanishing. Then Squatt, then Goldar and then… The space around me blurs for a moment before the universe reasserts itself.
Interesting. Scanning the teleportation effect every chance he gets. Know your enemy, and all that.
1st April 1995
14:59 GMT -6
I watch as the putties caper off to form a perimeter.
They may not be impressive, but they do work hard.
Data?
Partial analysis available.
Hm.
Better than his real counterpart would manage against magic, I see.
I didn't detect any mundane power source when I was on the moon base. As far as I could tell, everything runs on magic. And since I can't see Rita Repulsa having a super-powerful magic artefact somewhere where she can't get hold of it. Which means that her staff is it. It's powering everything, including the teleporter.
The crystal on my pendant has dimmed. Not a lot, but it's noticeable. Everything I know about my ring and magic energy says that I should be able to siphon it… But everything I know could just be wrong.
Ah, planning his inevitable rebellion, I see. I suspect his ring is operating on 'believe it, and it will happen.' rules.
Goldar looks at me. "Well?"
"Just considering the best site. It's not every day one plants a fission bomb on a supervolcano. Something to tell the grandchildren about."
If you get that far, anyway.
Of course, I took medium sized fission bombs. We don't exactly need to place it right in the geyser field. Which is good, because I don't want to encounter any tourists. Given that the civilian deaths so far have been zero somehow it doesn't seem as if Rita's followers actively want to inflict collateral damage, but… Let's not push things.
"Ah, I've got it." I nod. "This way."
...And even pre-social media, there'd be talk of it which might reach Zordon's ears...
