Written By: Josh "Firestorm Chameleon" Vargason
In part one of Accomplices, we learned that the Rescue Rangers had not fought crime for six months. Those six months changed the Rangers, so much so that Monterey Jack and Zipper left the group to fend for their own. A few weeks later, Foxglove had gone missing. Meanwhile, Monty and Zipper discover that Winifred and Professor Norton Nimnul, two old enemies of the Rangers, were working together with another man who appeared to be working with some government agent. The other Rangers are shocked when Monty tells them this, and they go to Nimnul’s lab to thwart the plans of the three accomplices. It was there that Chip and Gadget learn the three are building a super weapon, a type of battle tank enhanced with magic. In a dire turn of events, Winifred apparently destroyed Chip by causing him to explode into a shower of sparks. The other Rangers make a narrow escape and try to get revenge, but Monty and Zipper were next in line for Winifred’s devastating spell. Dale finds Foxglove at the lab and tries to talk to her, but she appeared to be hypnotized. Gadget and Dale leave without Foxglove, and they realize it’s down to just the two of them. Dale talks Gadget into going on a rescue mission for Foxglove. Although the mission was a success, Gadget did not survive, as Winifred did to her the same thing she did to the others. Dale managed to get the Ranger Wing back to HQ with Foxglove. Dale tells her the events that had taken place while she was under Winifred’s control. With a smile no less, Foxglove informs Dale that the others may still be alive. The spell Winifred had used on them was a spell to send mortal bodies to a place called the 75th Dimension, which exists between life and death. Foxglove finds the reverse spell for Winifred’s spell. She and Dale perform the spell together, but it was unsuccessful. When all hope seemed lost, Foxglove recalls that the book she obtained the spell from was a book for witches and they need another female to do the spell with her. Dale and Foxy enlist the help of Tammy Squirrel. This time, the spell was a success and the Rescue Rangers were together again. Together, they plan to make one last stand against the Accomplices...
The Ranger Wing zipped across the sunset sky towards Nimnul’s lab, carrying the Rescue Rangers with Gadget at its controls. The Rangers were even allowing Tammy to come along on this mission, seeing as she had nothing else to do.
"Alright, everyone," Chip said with his everlasting sense of duty and leadership, "It’s time to find out just what those three are up to."
"Right-o you are, lad. Ol’ Monterey Jack is ready to put an end to all o’ this." Monty cracked his knuckles with Zipper perched on his shoulder.
"Yeah! And when this is all done, can we throw a victory party, Chip." Tammy stopped herself just short of calling Chip "Chipper." She stuck her head between Gadget and Chip, who was riding shotgun as usual.
"Of course we can." Chip replied in a tone that made his discomfort obvious. "You aren’t invited." With a distraught look on her face, Tammy moved back into her seat.
"Chip, that’s terrible!" Foxglove answered. "Tammy only wants to have a little fun."
"She can have fun. As long as it doesn’t involve me." Chip replied.
"I hate to interrupt your bickering, but we’re coming in for a landing." Gadget informed. Chip spotted a man in a black suit getting into a sleek black sedan. It was obvious this was Winifred and Nimnul’s accomplice, Agent Brafford.
"Someone needs to follow him." Chip said. "We’ll break up into two groups. Dale, I want you, Foxglove, and Tammy follow him and see what he’s up to. The rest of us will see what we can dig up here."
"But I want to go with you, Chip!" Tammy said. She took Chip’s arm into her hands. Chip was quick to brush it away.
"No! Tammy, I’m sorry, but I’m taken. You have to understand that! Now go and follow him before he gets away!"
Dale and Tammy slid down a gutter pipe and quickly got onto the bumper of the sedan. The car made its getaway and Foxglove, who had fallen behind, was forced to fly after it as fast as she could. Gadget maneuvered the Ranger Wing into an open window and parked on the same counter as before.
Chip, Gadget, Monty, and Zipper could see a furious Winifred screaming at the top of her lungs. This was no much of a surprise, as Winifred was almost always furious about one thing or another.
"Can’t you two do anything right?! Why do I even rely on you two?! You are worthless!"
"But Wini-," Bud’s voice called out.
"Get out of my sight! And if you value your dusty dishpan lives, you will never come back into it!" Winifred screeched.
"That’s fine by us. Come on, Lou."
The Rangers could see the silhouettes of Bud and Lou crawling out the door. The two were ecstatic that Winifred had finally dismissed them for good. So much so, in fact, that Bud hummed, "Nah nah nah nah. Nah nah nah nah. Hey, hey, hey, goooodbye." to himself as he made his way out of the lab. After Bud and Lou left, Nimnul came in from another room, happy as a clam.
"Great news, Winifred! It’s almost finished! All I need now are a couple of magic shards. I don’t know what those are, so I’m counting on you to find them. When you do, I can put the final additions on the tank. Then, the city will know our power! Mwahahahaha!"
"Excellent! I’ll finally be able to show those soggy sponges that fired me what magic is all about! I’ll be back in a while." With that, Winifred walked out the door and Nimnul went back into the other room.
"Crikey! Those loonies are almost finished!" Monty said.
"We have to figure out a way to stop that weapon." Chip put his hand on his chin in thought. "Any ideas, Gadget?"
"Maybe…" Gadget thought for a second. "No, scratch that. Sorry guys, I don’t know much about magitechnology. Foxglove might."
"We’ll ask her when the others get back, then." Chip said. "Fire up the Wing, Gadget." Gadget did as she was told and lifted off, heading back to HQ.
Meanwhile…
The black sedan stopped at a big house just on the outskirts of town. The driver opened the door, got out of the car, and shut the door. Dale and Tammy were still sitting on the rear bumper, with Foxglove catching up; she was not too far behind them. Dale and Tammy climbed up a tree branch and peered in through an open window.
"Finally… I caught up with you." Foxglove panted. She was exhausted from the flying. "Man, I’m beat."
"Quiet!" Tammy said. A cell phone could be heard ringing from within the house. Brafford picked it up.
"It’s me. Yes, the weapon is nearly finished." There was a short silence about the house. "No, those two have no idea what I really have planned. Yet. Heh heh heh, I can’t wait to see everything blow up in their dumb faces. My status as a CIA agent came into play just as I planned. Listen, I’m really busy tonight. I’ll call you back when it’s finished and we’ll do business, capiche?" Agent Brafford hung up the cell phone and went to work on his computer.
"So he’s just been using those two?" Foxglove asked, more to herself than her friends.
"Ha, I can’t wait to see it blow up in their faces, either." Dale said. After saying that, the cell phone rang again.
"Hello? Oh, hello Nimnul! It’s finished? Excellent! I’ll be over first thing in the morning!" With a wicked smile on his face, Brafford threw the phone down.
"And so will we…" Dale said. "Let’s head back, ladies."
________________________________________________________________________
Dale, Foxglove, and Tammy arrived back at the HQ a couple of hours after the other Rangers, as they had to walk, and fly in Foxglove’s case, all of the way back. Dale couldn’t wait to tell the others what he had learned.
"Get this guys. Winifred and Nimnul’s little friend had been taking advantage on them all along. He said on the phone he was just using the two and that he couldn’t wait to see everything blow up in their faces." Dale told them.
"Ha! Now that’s somethin’ I gotta see." Monty said. He liked the sound of it as much as Dale did.
"It gets sour, though." Foxglove said. "Their weapon is finished. We can’t give them a chance to use it."
"Brafford is going to the lab first thing in the morning. At least that’s what he said." Tammy told everyone.
"Then we’ll be there waiting for him for the last hurrah." Chip said. "Let’s get some sleep. We’ll need it."
The Rangers ate a quick breakfast and went to the lab. Again, they hid on the counter behind a bunch of flasks and small boxes. Brafford arrived right on cue. He knelt down by the weapon and rubbed it gently, with Winfred and Nimnul next to him.
"Marvelous. It will do nicely." He said.
"Let’s test it out! I can’t wait any longer!" Nimnul said. He rubbed his cold, evil hands together at the mere thought of using such a powerful weapon. Brafford stood up.
"Actually, we can’t afford to do that. This is the original prototype after all. If I’m going to mass produce this weapon, I want to do it with the prototype untampered with."
"Mass produce? What are you talking about? We didn’t agree to that!" Nimnul snapped.
"Oh ho, that’s right." Brafford’s voice became sinister. "I forgot to tell you, I’ve already taken the liberty to file a patent for this weapon under your name."
"WHAT?! You can’t do that!" Nimnul’s face was as crimson as the hair on his head.
"I’m the government, Mr. Nimnul. You’d be surprised what I can do."
"Just what are you trying to pull?!" Winifred demanded. She was very angry, even for her.
"Why, I’m going to have this weapon mass produced and sell it on the black market under your names, where I will make millions of dollars. When these super weapons fall into the wrong hands and tear this country apart, the only people to blame will be you and the ones who use them. You two are arrested, case closed. Meanwhile, I relax on a beach in Hawaii a very rich man. No one will suspect anything of my involvement. The best part is, I’m going to get away with all of it."
"You said…" Nimnul began.
"HA! Did you actually believe anything I ever told you? I was using you all along. You were just my pawns. You performed quite well, I must say."
"What if we turn you in?" Winifred asked.
"Don’t be ridiculous. Who are the police going to believe, a couple of criminals or a loyal, upstanding, patriotic government agent such as myself?" Winifred and Nimnul fell silent, realizing Brafford was right. He continued to speak. "Know this, if either of you try anything to stop me, no matter how insignificant it may be, or if you try to escape the blame, I will not hesitate to kill you. Well, I’m a very busy man. Gotta lot of contracts to sign, I do. Or should I say, forge? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Farewell." Agent Brafford left the livid Winifred and Nimnul in the lab, alone. The two completely and entirely lost it. They were embarrassed, beaten at their own game.
"Why that no good, rotten…" Nimnul growled. His hands were clinched so tight; the tips of his fingers had turned purple from blood restriction. They resembled very small grape popsicles. Winifred’s teeth ached because she was gritting them so hard.
"I told you we couldn’t trust him!" She screamed. "No government man in his right mind lets people like us out of custody ten years before our sentences are up!"
"What are we going to do now? He said he’d kill us if we interfere!"
"Let’s discuss it elsewhere. He may be spying on us with some kind of hidden audio thingy."
"Good idea." Both people incensed, Winifred and Nimnul stormed out of the lab as if they were a nest of stirred up hornets searching for something to sting to death. The scene amused Dale, Monty, and Zipper to no end.
"Ha ha, I knew that would be one bloody good show!" Monty gloated. Dale laughed he high pitched laugh with glee and slapped his hand on his knee.
"Guys, I think we have bigger fish to fry." Chip said. "How are we going to stop this weapon?"
"I wish I knew something, but I don’t. I only know about magic, not magitechnology." Foxglove said.
"Well, I have an idea." Gadget said. "See that surveillance camera up there in the corner? If we can get the tape out and get the police to watch it, this whole scheme will be blown."
"I’ll get it." Foxglove took to the air and landed on the camera. "What do I do, Gadget?" Foxglove called from her perch. "There should be a button that says ‘eject.’ Push it."
"Gotcha." Foxglove called back. The tape door popped open. Foxglove grasped the tape in her feet and carried it back to the other Rangers on the counter.
"Let’s get this tape to the police department." Chip said. The Rangers loaded up in the Wing and lifted off. It wasn’t long before the reached they the police department. Monty picked up the tape and grunted as he threw it through an open window. This window led into the Chief of Police’s office. The tape fell on his hand and brought him away from his work. "What’s this?" He said out loud to himself. "A videotape? Someone must have had a good reason to throw it in my office. I guess I have time to take a look."
"Mission accomplished, Gadj." Chip said. "Get us back to HQ."
"Roger dodger!" The Ranger Wing darted away from the police department.
The chief had a look at the videotape the Rangers threw in. It revealed everything: Winifred and Nimnul’s weapon, Brafford releasing Winifred and Nimnul, his involvement in building the weapon, and his betrayal. The Chief knew what he had to do. He assembled his finest men to storm Nimnul’s lab. In the meantime, the Rangers relaxed at home.
________________________________________________________________________
The door of the lab swung open. Nimnul and Winifred entered, neither one of them cooled off even the slightest bit. "Oh, man. I don’t want to go back to the insane asylum!" Nimnul ran his hand through his curly red hair. "People need to realize the difference between genius and insanity!" Nimnul was so unnerved that he was shaking.
"I’ve had enough of your whining. If you don’t stop, I’ll give you something to whine about!" Winifred threatened.
"Maybe we should just go our separate ways. Hightail it to another country, like Australia or England. We could get out of here before we’re framed."
"Don’t bet on it." A voice called from behind. The two snapped around to see Agent Brafford standing before them. "I told you, if you try to escape the blame, I would kill you." Brafford shrugged his shoulders. "I don’t see why I shouldn’t just kill the both of you right now. Think about how meaningless both of your lives are. You have no place in society. You are of no use to me anymore. You aren’t even of any use to this country." Brafford reached into his jacket and pulled out a black Luger pistol. He pointed the gun right at Nimnul’s face. Nimnul could feel the cold steel of the gun touching his nose. "Do you want to die?"
Nimnul was sweating pills. "N-n-n-n-no. P-p-p-p-lease, don’t kill me. I beg you!"
"Stay where you are." Brafford ordered. He walked backwards towards the video camera, his gun still pointed at Nimnul and Winifred. Brafford looked up at the camera and saw the tape door exposed, with no tape in it. Upon seeing this, he hit the roof. "Where’s that blasted tape?! I personally put a tape in here this morning!"
In his rage, Brafford fired several rounds at the camera, which stood no chance against the 9mm bullets that slammed into it. Small bits and pieces of plastic, metal, and wiring flew about the room. Brafford pointed the smoking barrel of the gun back at Nimnul and Winifred. They had no doubts in their minds that he would pull the trigger if they simply looked at Brafford wrong.
"Where’s the tape?!" Brafford demanded. There was a crazed gleam in his dark eyes.
The dumbfounded Winifred and Nimnul didn’t dare to even blink, much less speak. There was a madman in the room with a loaded gun. They knew when those scenarios came together, people die. And they were the perfect victims. To make matters worse, the sound of police sirens became audible. That was when Brafford really lost it.
"You turned that tape into the police?! I should kill you where you stand!" Brafford roared at the top of his lungs, firing shots indiscriminately around the room. Glass flasks shattered, cardboard boxes were torn to pieces, and electronic equipment sparked from the damage they received.
"What? We didn’t turn that tape into the police!" Winfred shouted.
"Lies! No one else would have!"
"This is the police. We have you surrounded! Come out and surrender quietly!" The police chief called through a megaphone.
"You have nothing on me!" Brafford shouted.
"The jig’s up, Agent Brafford. You’re under arrest!"
"Curses!" Brafford shouted. "Get in the tank!" He demanded at Winifred and Nimnul. They didn’t move. "I said get in! It’s my only chance! I’ll let you live if you get in!" That was good enough for the two. They hopped in the tank. Nimnul took the controls. Brafford pointed the Luger at Nimnul’s head. "Drive, you moron! Drive!"
Nimnul started up the tank and maneuvered it out the bay door in the back. The police cars began pursuing it.
Meanwhile…
"You think the police has busted those two yet?" Dale asked. The Rangers were sitting around the living room of HQ.
"Who knows?" Chip said. "When we see their faces in tomorrow’s paper, then we can celebrate."
"Eh?" Monty stood up. He could sense something. "What’s that?" Monty rushed out the door and the others followed him. Just down the street were the super tank and half the police force pursuing it. A gun could be heard firing, perceptibly from a police car, but the bullets didn’t appear to have any effect on the tank. Without warning, the tank fired a burst of magical energy that obliterated a car that obstructed its path.
"Oh no!" Foxglove yelled, worry filling her wonderful blue eyes.
"We have got to stop that thing before someone gets killed!" Chip yelled. "Everyone, in the Ranger Wing, NOW!" The frantic Rescue Rangers scrambled for the Wing in one of their hastiest departures ever. Gadget piloted the Wing and followed the trail of police cars. She soon caught up to the tank.
"What are we going to do? How can we stop it?" Tammy asked.
"Where logic ends, action begins!" Monty declared. He got up out of his seat.
"Monty, what are you doing?!" Gadget yelled from the front seat.
"I’m gonna end this once and for all! Gerunimo!" Monterey put his goggles over his eyes, jumped out of the Wing, and landed on the tank. He began inspecting it, as if he were searching for something. The Rangers nervously looked on from the Wing. Monty found a small crack on the front and lifted with all of his might. He opened it just enough for him to squeeze through and slip inside. A few seconds later, the tank simply stopped. It was soon surrounded by police cars.
"Why’d we stop?" Brafford shouted. "What are you doing?! Move it!"
"I can’t! The controls aren’t responding. We have a total system failure."
"We have you completely surrounded. Come out with your hands up." A policeman called out.
"Do something, you idiot!" Brafford yet again pointed his gun at Nimnul’s head.
"There is nothing we can do." Winifred said. Her voice was quiet for the first time anybody could remember. "They have us surrounded. It’s over."
Winfred climbed out of the hatch with her hands in the air, followed by Nimnul. The police cuffed the two and moved them into a cop car.
"Come out, Mr. Brafford. We know you’re in there."
Brafford came out with his gun in his hand.
"Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon or we will open fire!" The cops commanded.
Brafford knew he had no chance. He dropped his gun and reluctantly held his hands in the air. It was around this time that Monterey Jack emerged from the opening from which he crawled in.
The Rangers watched the whole scene from the Wing, very pleased with themselves. The police towed the tank away and the group of cop cars left the scene. Gadget lowered the Ranger Wing just enough for Monty to climb in. Then she headed back for HQ.
"What did you do down there, Monty?" Dale asked.
"I snipped away one o’ the wires, and the whole thing just stopped. It was too easy."
"That’s our Monterey Jack!" Gadget said.
"Now we’re the REAL Rescue Rangers again." Monty trumpeted. "Me an’ Zipper have decided we’re comin’ back to stay."
"I’m glad. HQ just wasn’t the same without you." Chip said.
"Np kiddin’." said Dale.
"Welcome back, Monty." Foxglove said sweetly, and she gave Monty one of her bear hugs.
"So, how’s about that victory party?" Chip asked. "Tammy, you can come to, seeing as if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here right now."
"No, we did it together." Tammy said. "As a team. As the Rescue Rangers!"
"I’ll toast to that." Monty said.
And so, having saved the day and finally solving the mystery behind Nimnul and Winifred’s accomplice, the Rescue Rangers headed home to celebrate a job well done.