The Terran Rangers/X-Men by Heather Ray (ebook e reader .txt) 📕

William Mitchell was finally released from captivity in 1993 by an unknown traitor to Apocalypse, and was recruited by the X-Men, a group of mutant rebels, who strive to promote a peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. The X-Men helped train William in his abilities, and eventually William became a skilled telepath. Later that year, the X-Men overheard a report by one of Apocalypse's captains that a group of humans were found living in the remains of the city Angel Grove. The X-Men hurried to the small town, and managed to stop Apocalypse's forces from carrying out on of their "cullings"

. Among those saved from Apocalypse was Trini Kwan, a young woman who was a friend of William's for years. Magneto gave Trini permission to live with the X-Men, and help care for the dozens of young children the X-Men have saved over the years. In the year 1994, William and Trini were married.

Early the following year, the X-Men's home base was attacked by Apocalypse's son, Nemesis. Nemesis attacked while most of the X-Men were on a mission, and managed to kill Trini Mitchell, as well as Magneto's only daughter, the Scarlet Witch, who were both charged with caring for the young mutants living with the X-Men.

William was so angry for losing Trini that he left the X-Men, and worked alone. It was during his journeys alone that he encountered the group of mutant actors called the Outcasts, who were in reality a team of mutant freedom fighters disguised as actors. William met the group's leader Forge, a skilled mutant scientist, and they immediately bonded. William also met and befriended the young man Nate Grey, who was about the same age as William, and who was blessed and cursed with astounding telepathic and telekinetic powers. William helps Nate learn how to control his powers.

Known Superhuman Powers:

Shadow is a mutate with the powers of telepathy, enhanced physical senses (can see into the infra-red spectrum, three times normal hearing, enhanced sense of touch)

, thought projection, psionic bolts, and memory tampering.

Abilities:

Shadow is almost inhumanly skilled in the physical sciences, computers, electronics, medicine and the military sciences (strategy, tactics, logisitics)

.

END ENTRY...

Kimberly and Zack were utterly speechless.

"It can't be..." Kimberly whispered. "No one can survive a life like that."

"Its all true," said Forge, "I wrote the biography myself. William Mitchell is one of the few who've earned my utmost respect."

"And Trini was killed --?" asked Zack.

Forge nodded sadly. "Trini was Billy's last tie to humanity. Once she died, there was nothing for him. He felt he was a failure, because with all his abilities, he couldn't save his loved ones. He often spoke of people named Kimberly, Stephanie, Jason, and Trini. He lost them all."

"I guess in this dimension, my family never moved to Angel Grove from DC," said Zack.

"Washington DC was blown off the map in 1984," said Forge. "That was Apocalypse's first target, being the capital of the United States."

"That explains why Billy didn't know you," said Kimberly. "But, how did Billy cope with so much loss?"

"He cut himself off from his emotions," said Forge. "He lives for the day, without regard to the future or the past. He lives for his work, whether it be his science or his solo quests to free Apocalypse's slaves. He even has a friend in Apocalypse's army, who helps Billy save some of the victims. But no matter how much good Billy does, he doesn't feel like he's made amends for what he couldn't do when all his loved ones perished."

"Are you guys through talking about me?" barked Billy from the cockpit.

"He heard us?!" whispered Kimberly.

"Yes, I did," said Billy, "I have enhanced hearing, as well as sight, touch, taste, ecetera. One of the affects of having my brain stimulated by Sinister is having a greater amount of cortical space devoted to perception, through all five senses."

"I'm sorry, Billy," said Forge, standing up and rejoining Shadow in the cockpit, "but they needed to know. They're your friends. They care about you."

"No," said Billy, almost wistfully, "They're not my friends. They're friends of another William James Mitchell. We're approaching New York State."

Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently. Forge grasped the back of his co-pilot's seat, and hurriedly sat down and buckled up.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"We've been found!" said Billy. "Somehow, Apocalypse's forces have penetrated the cloaking device! Our right wing's been torn right off!"

"Evacuate!" ordered Forge. "There's no way we can land this thing in one piece!"

"I can!" called Nate from inside the cabin. His eyes began to glow with yellow energy, and soon his entire body was encased in a field of yellow light. Forge took both Zack and Kimberly by the hand, and led them into the cockpit. He then closed and sealed the door.

"What is he gonna do?" asked Zack.

"Fly out there and land the plane," said Billy, looking out the windshield. "There he is."

Kim and Zack turned, and saw Nate flying in front of the ship, grinning and waving. Billy sighed.

*Will you just hurry up and land the damn ship!*

he hollered telepathically.

Nate nodded, and immersed the entire ship with yellow light. Billy then looked out into the horizon.

"Fish," he muttered, standing up from his seat and peering out into the brown clouds.

"What?" asked Zack.

"Apocalypse has sent some of Sinister's mutates! They're in that ship over the horizon!"

"What ship?" asked Kim.

"The ship that isn't within your visual field yet. As soon as we land, we'll have to fight."

"No problem," said Zack with a grin. "We can take whatever Apocalypse can throw at us!"

"I hope your right," said Billy. *Nate, there's a ship approaching. Get us to the ground ASAP.*

The NightWolf jet plane was landed rather gently on the barren wasteland that used to be New York. Nate landed beside the ship, and telekinetically pried open the hatch, allowing Kimberly, Zack, Forge, and Shadow to escape the ship. Both Forge and Shadow were holding weapons. Forge held a large energy rifle, and Shadow carried two modified .50 AE Desert Eagle handguns. Kim looked at Billy's choice of weaponry questioningly.

"You use guns?" she asked. "With real bullets?"

"Yep," he answered, checking the remaining ammunition. "The adamantium bullets will slice through just about anything. Sometimes lasers just don't cut it."

"We'll need to take cover," said Forge, we're basically standing out in the middle of nowhere."

"We still have the NightWolf," said Shadow. "We can stay behind it, to protect ourselves from laser fire. But it won't do much against the ground troops."

Just then, the first wave of energy missiles was launched. Hundreds of pulsing blasts of plasmic energy landed in the general area. All five heroes took cover behind the fallen ship. Shadow watched as the bottom hatch of the overhead ship opened, releasing ten huge, misshapen creatures.

"What... what are those?" asked Zack.

"Mutates," said Forge, holding his rifle at the ready. "They are the ones not fortunate enough to die in the cullings. Sinister, and his aide the Dark Beast, altered them, and performed cruel, torturous experiments on them, to turn them into the ultimate fighting machines."

"They have no conscience, no compassion, no respect, and no souls," said Billy, taking the safety off. "We do them a favor by ending their tortured lives."

With that, the Shadow took aim at the ground troops that were quickly approaching the downed ship. Forge also began his attack, mercilessly plowing down the vicious mutates with his rifle. Nate focused his telekinetic energy into powerful beams of force, and showered the oncoming creatures with energy. Kim and Zack stood in awe at the show of power.

"If you're going to do something," said Shadow without turning around, "do it now!"

"Right," said Zack, raising his arms to the sky, "Its Morphin Time! TERRA LIGHT POWER!!"

"TERRA LIGHTNING POWER!!"

Both teenagers were expecting to be engulfed in an impressive display of blinding energy, and be transformed into the nearly invincible White and Yellow Terran Power Rangers. However, much to their surprise, nothing happened.

"We... we can't morph!" wailed Kimberly.

"We're... helpless?" whispered Zack incredulously.

The barren wasteland that once was the thriving city of New York was in chaos. The dead, dry dirt of the land was being kicked up by dozens of evil mutates, sending dust particles in clouds all around the area. The low visual acuity of the situation would usually hinder the aim of heroes trying to defend themselves against Apocalypse's swarms, but these heroes are rather exceptional. Shadow, the mysterious and brilliant teenaged marksman, was only slightly fazed from the lack of clear vision. Forge, the experienced warrior and cyborg, used the enhanced vision gained by having a bionic eye to make every shot count. Nate Grey, the young and powerful telepath, didn't need vision to hit his targets. He used his mind's eye, and managed to constantly strike down the oncoming hordes with powerful bolts of telekinetic energy. But, after merely ten minutes of battle, the heroes are beginning to run out of ammunition, and time. For even though only a handful of mutates first appeared, now there are literally hundreds, closing in slowly but surely.

"Damn!" cursed the Shadow angrily, searching through the compartments on his belt. "That was my last round! Maybe a shot of explosive will take care of them..."

"William," said Forge, not looking up from plowing down the mutates with his energy rifle, "no amount of ammunition will help us now! There are simply too many mutates for the three of us to destroy!"

"I can handle this," said Nate, rising off the ground. "Just give me five seconds --"

"Don't you dare!" yelled Forge. "You'll short out again, and you may not recover! You haven't mastered your powers to the extent that you can try attacking on such a grand scale! Will, go to the mansion, and find the X-Men! You know their hideout better than any of us! The X-Men can help us!"

"Fine," said Shadow, putting away his guns. He then turned around to face the two other teenagers, Kimberly Hart and Zack Taylor, who were smart enough to stay out of the way, since they couldn't help the fight without morphing.

"You two, take care," Shadow said, "I'll be back shortly."

Shadow then activated the cloak on his uniform, obscuring his image so as to make him difficult to detect. He bolted into a sprint that Michael Johnson couldn't match on his best day, and soon was completely out of sight. Kim