Power Rangers GPX, Part 1

Recovery

"Stupid ali—OW!" Sean winced as a UN doctor stitched up a wound on his left arm. The Rangers were being treated for injuries they suffered in their fight against the Zordonians. Kevin was being bandaged up, Daisuke was also being stitched up and Hitomi and Maria were in a different room for now so they could have some privacy while they were treated. The UN had run some tests on them earlier, and they saw no major or life-threatening injuries, major organ damage or broken bones. The only injuries they got were some bruising and a few gashes. The Rangers had essentially gotten lucky. But that's not the way Col. Greene saw it.

"Are you feeling okay, Rangers?" He asked as he came in with Hitomi and Maria.

"I think so," said Kevin. "I might need some Advil, though."

"Stupid stitches!" Sean said. "I hate getting them, but I always thought they numbed the area before stitching up the patient!" He said to the nurse on hand, as he could feel them stitching him up. The nurse gave him a dirty look, as if to say, 'then I'm not giving you any now'.

"Just relax Sean," said Kevin.

"Yeah, you're one to talk, you're not getting stitches!" Sean said. "By the way Colonel, you said these suits were invincible! Then how come we got these injuries?"

"Well, the way I see it, the suits did their job," he replied. Sean looked at him skeptically, as if that wasn't good enough.

"Oh really?" He said. "How so?"

"It's simple, really," Col. Greene said. "Had you not been wearing the suits, you surely would have been killed. But since you wore them, they protected you from serious injury."

"I don't get it," said Hitomi. "You said these suits were invincible, yet we got hurt anyway."

"Well to man-made weapons, they are invincible," said Col. Greene. "If someone fired a Howitzer at you, you would most likely survive if you were wearing the suit. And they won't protect you if you say, roll your ankle."

"And yet they hurt us big time," said Sean.

"Those were only minor injuries," said Col. Greene. "You were most likely hurt because of the Zordonians' weapons."

"But how the heck are they as powerful as a howitzer?" Maria asked.

"We're not sure," said Col. Greene. "We don't know the capabilities of the enemy. But for now, we'll have to say that the suits did their job anyway, because if you hadn't worn them, then it's likely you would have been KIA." Sean winced again when the nurse finished up her work on his stitches.

"You should still be able to fight with those stitches," said Col. Greene. "They're made of the same fiber that the Ranger suits are made of."

"You've been working on this stuff for 15 years?" Kevin asked.

"No, not fifteen," said Col. Greene. "I've only been working here for 10 years. This whole project has been going on for over 50 years."

"FIFTY YEARS!"The Rangers all said in unison. They were not prepared to learn about how long it had been going for and the revelation pretty much stunned them.

"What, you didn't know?" Greene asked as if he was under the assumption the Rangers knew that little factoid.

"No, you never really told us," said Kevin. "The way you said it, it was as if he started around the time of that distress signal."

"Oh, then I apologize," said Col. Greene. "Well the project was started at Caltech in the late 1950s."

"The 1950s?" Sean asked. "Let me guess... WWII?"