zakouniform
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- Joined
- Mar 18, 2020
-- CHAPTER 1 --
Three years after Zedd and Rita gave up on attempting to conquer the Earth, they came back for a short time in the late 90s to make another attempt. The citizens of Angel Grove put up quite some resistance to Zedd and his minions. He did not anticipate the people of Ashtabula to be as formidable. Zedd was also seeking out inspiration for new foot soldiers to accompany his army of monsters. Previous foot soldiers had the appearance of masked humanoid creatures held together in spandex outfits. Zedd’s new creation would need to have a more familiar appearance, allowing them to blend in to human society more readily. These new foot soldiers would be able to serve in spy roles or infiltrate certain people groups. Since new ranger recruits came from high schools and college, they would need a minion capable of mimicking the appearance of a teenager or young adult. This is the story of how Hannah Gottlieb became an unwilling character in this short chapter of Power Ranger history.
Hannah was your typical 18 year old girl living her life as a small town high school student. She excelled in the classroom and in sports, where she won quite a few medals in pole vaulting during track season. She pictured herself as an athlete and wore athletic clothing on a daily basis, especially her prized Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. On the days of a track meet, she wore her tracksuit and uniform with pride. To Lord Zedd, Hannah would serve as the perfect template for his new army of foot soldiers.
On a fateful spring day, the morning before Hannah’s season opening track meet, she disappeared while walking to school. Lord Zedd had managed to have his two boneheaded lieutenants pull off a successful kidnapping without drawing too much attention from the locals. Thousands of miles away at their moon headquarters, Lord Zedd quickly had Finster work on perfecting a new foot soldier using Hannah’s body as a template.
The process of making the new foot soldiers were almost identical to that of the original putties. However, the end result was a new putty patroller with the appearance of a teenage girl with the increased strength needed to formidably take on a ranger. Hannah’s lifeless body was placed into a machine, quickly analyzed and then incinerated. Gobbs of putty were placed into a mold and then placed into the machine. The result was a dozen freshly made “copies” of Hannah standing on a platform.
The new putties looked strikingly similar to Hannah, but with some slightly minor exceptions. The skin had a slight grayish tone and the pupils had a bright red appearance. Hannah was wearing her school’s green track uniform, white t-shirt and green nylon warmup pants the day she was kidnapped. The uniform was essentially unchanged, except that the color was changed to dark gray and the schools logo was replaced with a ‘Z’ emblem in the middle of the upper abdomen. With a flash of energy emitting from Zed’s staff, the new putties came to life as their bodies convulsed with the lightning pouring into them.
With this new batch of putties complete, he had Goldar engage in a fight with all twelve of them at the same time. The putties by no means stood a chance against Goldar, but it was a test to see how long they could last in a fight. As with all previous Zedd foot soldiers, a swift kick or punch to the ‘Z’ caused them to shatter into pieces. It was a known flaw in their design and Zedd knew about it. However, fixing the problem was seen as unnecessary since they could be so easily replaced. Within minutes, Goldar reduced the group of putties to a pile of rubble. Pleased with the results, Zedd tasked Finster with the role of creating a vast army of the new putties.
From Hannah’s point of view, she remembers walking to school and then being surprised by two strange-looking men, the sound of her neck snapping, then nothing. She remembers the intense white light and then suddenly standing on a platform looking down at her gray running shoes. There was something strange about how her body looked now. Her skin had a slight gray tone to it and her uniform had a different look as well. It was of the same soft material but a different color and with this new raised emblem on her chest. Her baggy windpants had changed color as well from forest green to dark gray. Looking down at her feet, she could see the small strip of white fabric from a t-shirt untucked at her waist and the loose-fitting track singlet layered over it. She was unable to move at all. She could hear sounds and conversation in the distance, but couldn’t see where it was coming from.
In an instant, Hannah felt an intense rush of energy pour into her body. As it was happening, she felt an intense wave of pleasure wash over her, like an orgasm. She could feel her toes curling in her shoes. She looked around and saw other versions of herself standing on this platform, all wearing the same uniform. The dark brown hair of each foot soldier was tied into a little ball behind its head. The pupils also had a bright red color that almost glowed when you saw them from a distance. Her mind felt numb and she couldn’t articulate what she was thinking as well as before. She somehow knew exactly what her new role was and what she had to do now. When she tried to talk, her speech sounded like she was underwater. Her new voice sounded like, “Wobloblowobloblo bloblboblo.” Strangely, she could recognize the babbling and the babbling of other putties as well.
Hannah had heard of putties before from the news stories on television. She remembers that they often terrorized people but eventually exploded into a pile of rubble after a quick confrontation with the Power Rangers. They did little more than slow an opponent down or get sacrificed by a more powerful monster. In awe, she realized that she herself was now just a foot soldier for Lord Zedd and the life she knew before was over.
She looked forward and saw one of the men who kidnapped her from before walking towards her and the group. The door slammed shut behind him. In an instant, he began fighting with members of her group. Instinct started kicking in and she began performing a series of martial art moves against the weird-looking man. She didn’t even take a single Karate class in her whole life. He grabbed her and another identical foot soldier and effortlessly slammed the two of them together. The emblem on her torso began to glow and felt very warm. She looked over and saw the other putty and hers was glowing as well. She thought, is this it? Am I going to die now? I’ve seen video footage of putties look like this right before they explode. The emblem got brighter and brighter and her abdomen began hurting a lot. She felt a wave of ecstasy pour over her and she began having an orgasm as her pelvis started thrusting upward over and over. Soon the uniform singlet she was wearing began glowing as well. In a split second she could feel her body being ripped apart molecule by molecule. She saw a flash of light and then nothing, again.
What seemed like a split second later, Hannah again experienced the same intense flash of light and standing on the platform looking down at her gray athletic shoes. Then once more, she felt a sudden rush of energy entering her torso. She found the experience of being destroyed and brought back to life both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. She looked over where she had just died a few minutes ago and saw the shattered remains of her previous body. With her hands, she felt over her abdomen where the ‘Z’ emblem is and noticed something strange about her new body: her breasts seemed to be missing. She always had small breasts when she was still a human, but now her chest is completely flat.
Hannah also came to the realization that she technically was not a ‘she’ anymore nor did she have a name or even a number. Putties were asexual and did not contain sex organs, which is why she felt no breasts when she was feeling around her chest area. Also, the internal organs in putties worked much differently. Putties did not need to eat, drink, use the bathroom, or any other bodily function. Putties are made on an as needed basis. With their low survival rate, they are not designed to function more than a few days at a time. All of their energy come directly from Zedd.
“You there!,” exclaimed Lord Zedd, “come over here.” With a discharge of energy toward the ‘Z’ emblem the body was miraculously relocated back onto the Earth’s surface, back at the same location where Hannah was originally abducted. It was now much later in the day, around 10 in the morning. The uniform had changed back to its original forest green color and the ‘Z’ emblem returned once more to the original school logo. To Hannah’s disappointment, the breasts were still noticeably missing. Also, the new body lacked the brain power and vocal chords to communicate like a human. That last energy blast also gave the foot soldier all the necessary instructions to perform the task.
As Hannah began slowly figuring out, the putty brain had very little power to process more advanced speech patterns and fighting strategy. While it had the “muscle” memory needed to perform simple to intermediate-level martial arts maneuvers, it lacked the ability to properly prepare for an adversary’s next move. The instructions from Zedd were very clear: spy on the Power Rangers who are present at that school. In other words, be seen but not heard. This would be easy for Hannah. For all of her athletic accomplishments, Hannah was a bit of a hermit. She had very few close friends and her home life kind of sucked.
As Hannah walked along she saw her reflection in a store window and couldn’t help but notice how slender she looked now with a flat chest. It was kind of a relief to not wear a bra anymore even though she now looked less like a woman. But then again, she wasn’t human anymore and it didn’t matter. It did matter if she had to blend in with humans and not stick out. The bright red eyes would definitely catch a lot of unwanted attention. She felt around and noticed a little bulge in the cargo pocket of her windpants. She pulled out a contact lense case and carefully placed the lenses in her eyes. To her relief, the pupils now looked more like her original brown eye color. Being that it was late March and still a bit chilly outside, she removed her green track team hoodie out of her bag and pulled it on over her torso. The puffy material seemed to do a good job concealing her flat chest.
Hannah entered the school just as students were moving onto their next class. At this time of the day, she would need to be in study hall. Students were busily moving along in the school corridors. She wondered if anyone noticed she was tardy or that she had a slightly different appearance. To her surprise, the students didn’t seem to take notice. It helped that several other students, members of the high school track team, were also wearing their uniform.
Being that it was in the mid-90s, Hip Hop music, baggy jeans, sweatpants, and windpants were popular at the time, even among teenage girls. She could hear the ‘swishing’ sound of her nylon windpants as she walked along in the hallway. Hannah was thinking, the idea of her track uniform being the chosen uniform for Zedd’s new foot soldiers seemed delightful. She would not have enjoyed wearing a tight full body spandex outfit, especially while operating in a variety of different environments. From the outside, she looked like just a scrawny teenage girl. Little does anyone know she has the equivalent strength of three men.
Hannah’s high school had a very small ranger presence with only three members. She never knew who they were because they didn’t make it publicly known who their members were. With the instructions she received from Lord Zedd, the putty patroller knew just how to spot them and perform surveillance on them. As she entered the study hall, she stood at the back of the room so she could get a full view of everyone there.
Each power ranger carried a special badge on them so they could morph into their suit at any time. These badges contained a great deal of power, enough that simply touching one would cause a putty to melt or be vaporized. They had an incredible effect on putties in particular, probably because they are made from an evil substance. Kind of like matter and antimatter meeting each other, but a bit different. The closer her body came to those badges the more she could feel its effect. As everyone was filing into the study hall, she could immediately feel the presence of the ranger badges. She walked around pretending to find a seat, but secretly she was using her “badge radar” to pinpoint its source.
Power Rangers did almost everything together. They ate together, studied together, attended the same classes together, and even had sex with each other. There was Curt, the red ranger and leader of the group. Billy, the blue ranger and nerdy genius of the group. And Kristi, the yellow ranger and on-and-off girlfriend of Curt.
Curt always dressed in flannels and cut-up jeans. He grew up on a farm when he was young. After his parents died, he moved in with his uncle who lived in town. His passion is playing the drums in a garage band. Curt had a problem with underage drinking and smoking weed until he became a power ranger. Despite the occasional mood swing, he is well liked by his friends.
Billy is an aspiring computer geek and has few other pursuits outside of being a ranger. He dresses like a goth and listens to Marilyn Manson tapes on repeat. Unlike Curt, he comes from a pretty stable home environment. Both his parents are teachers at the high school and he is an only child. The two boys seem to have nothing in common, yet are always around each other.
Kristi is obsessed with being involved in team sports and listening to hip hop. In the fall, she participates in cross country running. In the winter, she is on the basketball team. Now, she’s a track and field star. She and Curt have very little in common, but always find themselves back in a relationship with each other. Since today is the beginning of track season, she is dressed in her green track uniform. Just like Hannah, she too enjoys wearing athletic clothing almost everyday. She likes driving to Cleveland on the weekend and going to breakdancing clubs. Curt didn’t care much for Kristi’s choice of clothing style. He preferred she dress more like a girl instead of wearing t-shirts and baggy adidas windpants seemingly all the time. He’s not into hip hop music at all and these differences seem to keep coming up as conflict in their relationship.
Hannah sat down in a seat behind the group. Now that she had successfully identified who the rangers were, her task was to eavesdrop on their conversations. Built into the design of each putty patroller was a form of audio/visual recording and transmitting equipment. Lord Zedd sat comfortably from his moon headquarters listening and watching what was happening. Occasionally, he would curse at the screen because his spy wasn’t doing exactly what he wanted it to do. Hannah would look up and smile when one of the rangers would mention a detail that she knew might be used against them later.
Apparently, Curt and Billy were going to attend the track meet later today to watch Kristi perform in the high jump competition. Lord Zedd began crafting a plan to ambush this group of poorly prepared power rangers. He would send hundreds of his foot soldiers to overwhelm the rangers and subdue them before they had a chance to react. New instructions from Zedd started pouring in much to Hannah’s surprise. She would give the signal to begin the attack on the rangers. After her and the hundreds of other “z putties” sufficiently weakened the three rangers, he would send the Stag Beetle to finish the job.
It just dawned on Hannah that her body consisted of more than a clay-like substance and energy from Lord Zedd’s staff. She must have machine components built into her body as well. As strange as it might sound, it is probably within her electronic components where her conscious self resides currently. Just like a ghost in the machine, everytime she is eliminated, her conscious is transferred into another body. The self-destruct mechanism built into her and every putty must serve to prevent an enemy from acquiring Zedd’s technology.
A few hours later, the school day came to an end and it was now time to get on the bus to travel to Geneva, a few miles away for the track meet. Hannah sat in the seat behind Kristi on the short trip over to Geneva. To avoid conversation with anyone, she pretended to sleep on the ride over. According to the plan, she will need to perform the pole vault once or twice and then attempt to impale Kristi by throwing a Javelin at her. This will be the signal to begin the attack on the field. She will be part of the first wave of foot soldiers to engage with the rangers. After the first group is eliminated, a second and then third wave of putties will fight. Before the rangers have a chance to recover, the Stag Beetle will be sent in to finish what the putties started.
They arrived at the track meet in Geneva and everyone got off the bus and soon began their warm up drills. Hannah removed her hooded sweatshirt, revealing her track singlet underneath. All of the track singlets were unisex and looked big when worn by a girl. The scoop came down to about breast level in the front, so a white t shirt was required to be worn under the uniform. Hannah typically kept her uniform untucked at the waist so that a bit of her t shirt stuck out at the bottom. She really liked the layered look with her uniform. On the back of her singlet she had a three digit number: 357.
The match began and Hannah prepared for her competition. The rest of the girls removed their warmup pants, but she kept her pants on. This is mostly because she wasn’t wearing any shorts underneath. There also wasn’t any regulation that said you couldn’t perform with warmup pants. Typically, it just affected the performance. It was also cold outside, so she didn’t mind keeping her skinny legs warm.
Hannah ran with the pole, lodged it into the ground, her body lifted high into the air, arched her back and effortlessly made her way over the stick. The other performers were shocked by what they just saw. She just broke all previous records by a wide margin.
Over by the high jump, she saw Kristi about to perform. Hannah saw this as her moment. She walked over and grabbed a javelin laying on the ground. A moment later, Kristi jumped over the stick. Before she could stand up on the mat, Hannah threw the Javelin straight at Kristi and buried it deep within her left shoulder. All of a sudden there was silence and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Hannah. A few seconds had passed and then she reverted back to her putty form. The uniform had returned to its original dark gray color and she now had a large ‘Z’ emblem on her abdomen. Her eyes now glowed with a bright red color. She began dancing around and babbling, “Wobloblobloblo bloblobloblo.”
Hundreds of putties began storming the field and running over to Kristi. Track performers and visitors began running away in fear. In an instant, Curt and Billy had transported over to Kristi to help her. The putties began circling them and dancing around making babbling noises.
“Are these what I think they are?” said Billy. “Yes, they are putties, but like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Curt. They looked too human to be putties, thought Billy.
Kristi slowly got to her feet and pulled the Javelin out of her shoulder. She couldn’t move her left shoulder at all. The first wave of putties began their attack and the person who was once Hannah joined the first wave of attackers. The putties at first seemed to be too much for them to handle, but then the rangers took back control and started littering the ground with defeated foot soldiers. From a distance, it started to look like a fireworks show as dozens of putties began exploding or vaporizing near the high jump area.
Down where all the fighting was taking place, Hannah and dozens of other putties were getting tossed around, kicked, and thrown. She began losing much of her energy. Curt’s badge morphed into a Sword and he started slicing putties completely in half or running his sword through two or three of them at a time. Hannah’s slender frame allowed for Curt’s sword to pierce through several putties at a time. The foot soldiers stood in a row with two feet of razor sharp steel slammed through their chests. Their legs started sagging a little and then their bodies were devoured from the inside out by a bright white light until they completely vaporized. Billy’s badge morphed into a bow and arrows and he started shooting two or three putties at a time. One arrow completely passed through one putty entered another before it stopped. Each time an arrow hit a putty it simply vaporized within a few seconds. Kristi picked up the Javelin which had been used on her and began running around impaling putties with it.
Hannah started seeing their numbers dropping fast, but the next group could not attack until they were all eliminated first. An arrow came out of nowhere hitting her in the sternum above the scoop of her singlet. The arrow went through the putty in front of her, then passing completely through her chest before hitting the ‘Z’ of the soldier behind her, causing it to explode. Triple kill shot! I’ve been eagerly waiting for that to happen to me, she thought. She fell to her knees and then leaned against a pile of dead putties that was forming quickly at that spot. Her whole body just stopped moving and she couldn’t feel anything anymore. She could still see and hear the battle continuing on around her but could not move to get a better look. The components in the brain must still be functioning for now even though the body itself quit functioning.
The first and second wave have now been eliminated and there are hundreds of bodies scattered everywhere. The pile where Hannah had fallen has become deeper as more and more bodies have fallen onto it. A putty had fallen right in front of her, blocking part of her view. She now had a view of the back of her own neck. The shoulder length hair was still fastened in a bun, except for a few stray hairs. To pass the time, she studied the body that lay beside her. She noted how soft the white t-shirt looked and remembered how comfortable it was to wear.
The noise from the fighting seems to have died down. At this point, it is assumed that all of the foot soldiers have been eliminated. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the Stag Beetle walking around. Outnumbered, the stag beetle got desperate and began throwing putty corpses at the rangers. A whole pile of dead putty patrollers was picked up and flung in the direction of the heroes. Landing on their Z’s or by colliding with each others torsos while landing, the putties set off a chain reaction with their bodies. The shock wave sent bodies flying in all directions including Hannah’s current body, which is now laying dozens of yards away curled up in a fetal position.
For a brief moment, Billy was knocked unconscious on the ground. Curt and Kristi crawled over to him and shook him until he was awake. He opened his eyes and saw the severed head of a z putty staring straight at him. Some of the foot soldiers reverted back to a clay-like base material when they exploded. This body had been ripped apart from the explosion before it could morph back into clay. The hair was still fastened behind the head but in a messy looking bun. Billy picked up the severed head by the hair and looked intently at the eyes. There was slight movement in the pupils as they dilated and constricted to account for light and darkness. This thing is still functioning, still recording what is happening as the battle continues around it, he thought.
Even in death, the face of his new adversary looked beautiful. Secretly, Billy had always been attracted to Hannah but never knew how to show it. She was a track star and he was a nerd, but he always sensed something different about her. He felt that there was something more to her than just the athletic clothing and a collection of sports trophies. He still feels that way even though she is now an expendable foot soldier and an enemy of his. Sitting on the ground he sensed a bit of grief come over him as he thought of this. He remembers fighting these putties and the weird sense of joy he had as he was fighting them. I feel like I’m dancing with her when I am fighting them. The look on its (Hannah’s) face when it’s struggling to kick or punch me.
Hannah was thinking back when she was still a human and reading about the Power Rangers, Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa and her monsters, and of course, those putties. It became such a big deal, that they made comic books about the Power Rangers and their adventures. She always felt that they embellished their stories, but now after experiencing it firsthand, it seemed strangely close to the truth. Being killed by a ranger is painful but exhilarating as well. Hannah had always fantasized about being objectified and being used in some degrading way. Being used as cannon fodder for a powerful enemy and then being punched in the ‘Z’ causes this explosion of pleasure in her mind. Perhaps that was what Lord Zedd had intended for her to experience when she agreed to be his new foot soldier.
Oh! That’s right, I did agree to be a foot soldier, Hannah remembers. Lord Zedd had personally sought out Hannah after reading about her athletic accomplishments in the news. He also read the contents of her computer’s hard drive and knew about the secret fascination she had with being a soldier. Growing up she would watch films of medieval knights slashing their way through lines of foot soldiers on the battlefield. Medieval soldiers typically wore a sleeveless tunic or singlet over their armor. Along the way, Hannah had observed that track singlets, tank tops, and basketball jerseys closely resembled the tunic of medieval times. She lived out her fantasy of being a foot soldier by participating in sports where she wore singlets or tank tops. Whenever an opponent maneuvered around her or outwitted her and scored a point, she imagined it was like her being slashed at with a sword, run through with a lance, or pierced with an arrow.
From outer space, Lord Zedd sent a bolt of energy hurling towards the earth and crash into the monster. The ground shook and large deep crevices formed where the Stag Beetle previously was. The earth opened and dozens of corpses fell into the holes and were swallowed up. Hannah felt her limp body lifted again as a great wind came and blew the many hundreds of putty corpses around the stadium area, into the bleachers and against walls and chain link fences. Her body came to rest again near a concrete wall with a few other foot soldiers. To her delight, instead of being curled up on the ground where she can’t see anything, she can now get a better view of the battle from the way she is positioned. She can see the Stag Beetle again, but now it is growing larger and larger. With each step the monster makes, the ground trembles and some of the putties are squished beneath her feet. A few minutes later, the Megazord arrived and the two battled it out among the rubble that was once the stadium.
From Hannah’s point of view, it’s like witnessing two children in halloween costumes fighting each other in slow motion. The area around the fighting must be absolutely devastated by now, she thought. The megazord fell or stepped very close to her location multiple times during the course of battle. After several minutes of intense fighting, the megazord finally defeated the giant Stag Beetle as it fell and exploded off in the distance.
The confrontation with the Power Rangers was finally over and it was a humiliating defeat for Lord Zedd and his countless minions. Hannah was not too disappointed, she finally got to live out her fantasy of being a foot soldier. However, a part of her thought the rangers would hesitate to fight her because the new putties had a more feminine appearance and because they looked like a fellow classmate. In fact, it appeared to make no difference at all. They cut down the little army of Hannah clones in a matter of minutes.
The hours slipped by and the evening came. Hannah could hear footsteps and sounds of movement. Apparently, some of the locals brave enough to venture into ground zero of the fighting were coming by to investigate. She could see men with flashlights and some of them had cameras and were taking pictures of the putties and the devastation. About an hour later, more and more people could be heard and voices shouting. It was dark now and she could see very little except the dark figures of people moving around and the occasional person walking by taking pictures. A group of people were walking over to her and she could see them picking up bodies and carrying them over to a cart. They picked up Hannah by the arms and legs, carried her over to the giant cart, and tossed her onto the other bodies that were laying there. More bodies were tossed onto the cart and then it was hauled over to where a massive pile was forming in the middle of a field.
The townspeople had formed what looked like a giant wall of bodies and neatly stacked the dead foot soldiers on top of each other. They picked up Hannah and laid her too on the pile with the hundreds of other bodies. The uniform worn by putties was made of nylon, a flammable material, so a simple match is all that was needed to ignite the fire. The fire came quickly and consumed her body and then, nothing.
-- END OF CHAPTER 1 --
Three years after Zedd and Rita gave up on attempting to conquer the Earth, they came back for a short time in the late 90s to make another attempt. The citizens of Angel Grove put up quite some resistance to Zedd and his minions. He did not anticipate the people of Ashtabula to be as formidable. Zedd was also seeking out inspiration for new foot soldiers to accompany his army of monsters. Previous foot soldiers had the appearance of masked humanoid creatures held together in spandex outfits. Zedd’s new creation would need to have a more familiar appearance, allowing them to blend in to human society more readily. These new foot soldiers would be able to serve in spy roles or infiltrate certain people groups. Since new ranger recruits came from high schools and college, they would need a minion capable of mimicking the appearance of a teenager or young adult. This is the story of how Hannah Gottlieb became an unwilling character in this short chapter of Power Ranger history.
Hannah was your typical 18 year old girl living her life as a small town high school student. She excelled in the classroom and in sports, where she won quite a few medals in pole vaulting during track season. She pictured herself as an athlete and wore athletic clothing on a daily basis, especially her prized Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. On the days of a track meet, she wore her tracksuit and uniform with pride. To Lord Zedd, Hannah would serve as the perfect template for his new army of foot soldiers.
On a fateful spring day, the morning before Hannah’s season opening track meet, she disappeared while walking to school. Lord Zedd had managed to have his two boneheaded lieutenants pull off a successful kidnapping without drawing too much attention from the locals. Thousands of miles away at their moon headquarters, Lord Zedd quickly had Finster work on perfecting a new foot soldier using Hannah’s body as a template.
The process of making the new foot soldiers were almost identical to that of the original putties. However, the end result was a new putty patroller with the appearance of a teenage girl with the increased strength needed to formidably take on a ranger. Hannah’s lifeless body was placed into a machine, quickly analyzed and then incinerated. Gobbs of putty were placed into a mold and then placed into the machine. The result was a dozen freshly made “copies” of Hannah standing on a platform.
The new putties looked strikingly similar to Hannah, but with some slightly minor exceptions. The skin had a slight grayish tone and the pupils had a bright red appearance. Hannah was wearing her school’s green track uniform, white t-shirt and green nylon warmup pants the day she was kidnapped. The uniform was essentially unchanged, except that the color was changed to dark gray and the schools logo was replaced with a ‘Z’ emblem in the middle of the upper abdomen. With a flash of energy emitting from Zed’s staff, the new putties came to life as their bodies convulsed with the lightning pouring into them.
With this new batch of putties complete, he had Goldar engage in a fight with all twelve of them at the same time. The putties by no means stood a chance against Goldar, but it was a test to see how long they could last in a fight. As with all previous Zedd foot soldiers, a swift kick or punch to the ‘Z’ caused them to shatter into pieces. It was a known flaw in their design and Zedd knew about it. However, fixing the problem was seen as unnecessary since they could be so easily replaced. Within minutes, Goldar reduced the group of putties to a pile of rubble. Pleased with the results, Zedd tasked Finster with the role of creating a vast army of the new putties.
From Hannah’s point of view, she remembers walking to school and then being surprised by two strange-looking men, the sound of her neck snapping, then nothing. She remembers the intense white light and then suddenly standing on a platform looking down at her gray running shoes. There was something strange about how her body looked now. Her skin had a slight gray tone to it and her uniform had a different look as well. It was of the same soft material but a different color and with this new raised emblem on her chest. Her baggy windpants had changed color as well from forest green to dark gray. Looking down at her feet, she could see the small strip of white fabric from a t-shirt untucked at her waist and the loose-fitting track singlet layered over it. She was unable to move at all. She could hear sounds and conversation in the distance, but couldn’t see where it was coming from.
In an instant, Hannah felt an intense rush of energy pour into her body. As it was happening, she felt an intense wave of pleasure wash over her, like an orgasm. She could feel her toes curling in her shoes. She looked around and saw other versions of herself standing on this platform, all wearing the same uniform. The dark brown hair of each foot soldier was tied into a little ball behind its head. The pupils also had a bright red color that almost glowed when you saw them from a distance. Her mind felt numb and she couldn’t articulate what she was thinking as well as before. She somehow knew exactly what her new role was and what she had to do now. When she tried to talk, her speech sounded like she was underwater. Her new voice sounded like, “Wobloblowobloblo bloblboblo.” Strangely, she could recognize the babbling and the babbling of other putties as well.
Hannah had heard of putties before from the news stories on television. She remembers that they often terrorized people but eventually exploded into a pile of rubble after a quick confrontation with the Power Rangers. They did little more than slow an opponent down or get sacrificed by a more powerful monster. In awe, she realized that she herself was now just a foot soldier for Lord Zedd and the life she knew before was over.
She looked forward and saw one of the men who kidnapped her from before walking towards her and the group. The door slammed shut behind him. In an instant, he began fighting with members of her group. Instinct started kicking in and she began performing a series of martial art moves against the weird-looking man. She didn’t even take a single Karate class in her whole life. He grabbed her and another identical foot soldier and effortlessly slammed the two of them together. The emblem on her torso began to glow and felt very warm. She looked over and saw the other putty and hers was glowing as well. She thought, is this it? Am I going to die now? I’ve seen video footage of putties look like this right before they explode. The emblem got brighter and brighter and her abdomen began hurting a lot. She felt a wave of ecstasy pour over her and she began having an orgasm as her pelvis started thrusting upward over and over. Soon the uniform singlet she was wearing began glowing as well. In a split second she could feel her body being ripped apart molecule by molecule. She saw a flash of light and then nothing, again.
What seemed like a split second later, Hannah again experienced the same intense flash of light and standing on the platform looking down at her gray athletic shoes. Then once more, she felt a sudden rush of energy entering her torso. She found the experience of being destroyed and brought back to life both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. She looked over where she had just died a few minutes ago and saw the shattered remains of her previous body. With her hands, she felt over her abdomen where the ‘Z’ emblem is and noticed something strange about her new body: her breasts seemed to be missing. She always had small breasts when she was still a human, but now her chest is completely flat.
Hannah also came to the realization that she technically was not a ‘she’ anymore nor did she have a name or even a number. Putties were asexual and did not contain sex organs, which is why she felt no breasts when she was feeling around her chest area. Also, the internal organs in putties worked much differently. Putties did not need to eat, drink, use the bathroom, or any other bodily function. Putties are made on an as needed basis. With their low survival rate, they are not designed to function more than a few days at a time. All of their energy come directly from Zedd.
“You there!,” exclaimed Lord Zedd, “come over here.” With a discharge of energy toward the ‘Z’ emblem the body was miraculously relocated back onto the Earth’s surface, back at the same location where Hannah was originally abducted. It was now much later in the day, around 10 in the morning. The uniform had changed back to its original forest green color and the ‘Z’ emblem returned once more to the original school logo. To Hannah’s disappointment, the breasts were still noticeably missing. Also, the new body lacked the brain power and vocal chords to communicate like a human. That last energy blast also gave the foot soldier all the necessary instructions to perform the task.
As Hannah began slowly figuring out, the putty brain had very little power to process more advanced speech patterns and fighting strategy. While it had the “muscle” memory needed to perform simple to intermediate-level martial arts maneuvers, it lacked the ability to properly prepare for an adversary’s next move. The instructions from Zedd were very clear: spy on the Power Rangers who are present at that school. In other words, be seen but not heard. This would be easy for Hannah. For all of her athletic accomplishments, Hannah was a bit of a hermit. She had very few close friends and her home life kind of sucked.
As Hannah walked along she saw her reflection in a store window and couldn’t help but notice how slender she looked now with a flat chest. It was kind of a relief to not wear a bra anymore even though she now looked less like a woman. But then again, she wasn’t human anymore and it didn’t matter. It did matter if she had to blend in with humans and not stick out. The bright red eyes would definitely catch a lot of unwanted attention. She felt around and noticed a little bulge in the cargo pocket of her windpants. She pulled out a contact lense case and carefully placed the lenses in her eyes. To her relief, the pupils now looked more like her original brown eye color. Being that it was late March and still a bit chilly outside, she removed her green track team hoodie out of her bag and pulled it on over her torso. The puffy material seemed to do a good job concealing her flat chest.
Hannah entered the school just as students were moving onto their next class. At this time of the day, she would need to be in study hall. Students were busily moving along in the school corridors. She wondered if anyone noticed she was tardy or that she had a slightly different appearance. To her surprise, the students didn’t seem to take notice. It helped that several other students, members of the high school track team, were also wearing their uniform.
Being that it was in the mid-90s, Hip Hop music, baggy jeans, sweatpants, and windpants were popular at the time, even among teenage girls. She could hear the ‘swishing’ sound of her nylon windpants as she walked along in the hallway. Hannah was thinking, the idea of her track uniform being the chosen uniform for Zedd’s new foot soldiers seemed delightful. She would not have enjoyed wearing a tight full body spandex outfit, especially while operating in a variety of different environments. From the outside, she looked like just a scrawny teenage girl. Little does anyone know she has the equivalent strength of three men.
Hannah’s high school had a very small ranger presence with only three members. She never knew who they were because they didn’t make it publicly known who their members were. With the instructions she received from Lord Zedd, the putty patroller knew just how to spot them and perform surveillance on them. As she entered the study hall, she stood at the back of the room so she could get a full view of everyone there.
Each power ranger carried a special badge on them so they could morph into their suit at any time. These badges contained a great deal of power, enough that simply touching one would cause a putty to melt or be vaporized. They had an incredible effect on putties in particular, probably because they are made from an evil substance. Kind of like matter and antimatter meeting each other, but a bit different. The closer her body came to those badges the more she could feel its effect. As everyone was filing into the study hall, she could immediately feel the presence of the ranger badges. She walked around pretending to find a seat, but secretly she was using her “badge radar” to pinpoint its source.
Power Rangers did almost everything together. They ate together, studied together, attended the same classes together, and even had sex with each other. There was Curt, the red ranger and leader of the group. Billy, the blue ranger and nerdy genius of the group. And Kristi, the yellow ranger and on-and-off girlfriend of Curt.
Curt always dressed in flannels and cut-up jeans. He grew up on a farm when he was young. After his parents died, he moved in with his uncle who lived in town. His passion is playing the drums in a garage band. Curt had a problem with underage drinking and smoking weed until he became a power ranger. Despite the occasional mood swing, he is well liked by his friends.
Billy is an aspiring computer geek and has few other pursuits outside of being a ranger. He dresses like a goth and listens to Marilyn Manson tapes on repeat. Unlike Curt, he comes from a pretty stable home environment. Both his parents are teachers at the high school and he is an only child. The two boys seem to have nothing in common, yet are always around each other.
Kristi is obsessed with being involved in team sports and listening to hip hop. In the fall, she participates in cross country running. In the winter, she is on the basketball team. Now, she’s a track and field star. She and Curt have very little in common, but always find themselves back in a relationship with each other. Since today is the beginning of track season, she is dressed in her green track uniform. Just like Hannah, she too enjoys wearing athletic clothing almost everyday. She likes driving to Cleveland on the weekend and going to breakdancing clubs. Curt didn’t care much for Kristi’s choice of clothing style. He preferred she dress more like a girl instead of wearing t-shirts and baggy adidas windpants seemingly all the time. He’s not into hip hop music at all and these differences seem to keep coming up as conflict in their relationship.
Hannah sat down in a seat behind the group. Now that she had successfully identified who the rangers were, her task was to eavesdrop on their conversations. Built into the design of each putty patroller was a form of audio/visual recording and transmitting equipment. Lord Zedd sat comfortably from his moon headquarters listening and watching what was happening. Occasionally, he would curse at the screen because his spy wasn’t doing exactly what he wanted it to do. Hannah would look up and smile when one of the rangers would mention a detail that she knew might be used against them later.
Apparently, Curt and Billy were going to attend the track meet later today to watch Kristi perform in the high jump competition. Lord Zedd began crafting a plan to ambush this group of poorly prepared power rangers. He would send hundreds of his foot soldiers to overwhelm the rangers and subdue them before they had a chance to react. New instructions from Zedd started pouring in much to Hannah’s surprise. She would give the signal to begin the attack on the rangers. After her and the hundreds of other “z putties” sufficiently weakened the three rangers, he would send the Stag Beetle to finish the job.
It just dawned on Hannah that her body consisted of more than a clay-like substance and energy from Lord Zedd’s staff. She must have machine components built into her body as well. As strange as it might sound, it is probably within her electronic components where her conscious self resides currently. Just like a ghost in the machine, everytime she is eliminated, her conscious is transferred into another body. The self-destruct mechanism built into her and every putty must serve to prevent an enemy from acquiring Zedd’s technology.
A few hours later, the school day came to an end and it was now time to get on the bus to travel to Geneva, a few miles away for the track meet. Hannah sat in the seat behind Kristi on the short trip over to Geneva. To avoid conversation with anyone, she pretended to sleep on the ride over. According to the plan, she will need to perform the pole vault once or twice and then attempt to impale Kristi by throwing a Javelin at her. This will be the signal to begin the attack on the field. She will be part of the first wave of foot soldiers to engage with the rangers. After the first group is eliminated, a second and then third wave of putties will fight. Before the rangers have a chance to recover, the Stag Beetle will be sent in to finish what the putties started.
They arrived at the track meet in Geneva and everyone got off the bus and soon began their warm up drills. Hannah removed her hooded sweatshirt, revealing her track singlet underneath. All of the track singlets were unisex and looked big when worn by a girl. The scoop came down to about breast level in the front, so a white t shirt was required to be worn under the uniform. Hannah typically kept her uniform untucked at the waist so that a bit of her t shirt stuck out at the bottom. She really liked the layered look with her uniform. On the back of her singlet she had a three digit number: 357.
The match began and Hannah prepared for her competition. The rest of the girls removed their warmup pants, but she kept her pants on. This is mostly because she wasn’t wearing any shorts underneath. There also wasn’t any regulation that said you couldn’t perform with warmup pants. Typically, it just affected the performance. It was also cold outside, so she didn’t mind keeping her skinny legs warm.
Hannah ran with the pole, lodged it into the ground, her body lifted high into the air, arched her back and effortlessly made her way over the stick. The other performers were shocked by what they just saw. She just broke all previous records by a wide margin.
Over by the high jump, she saw Kristi about to perform. Hannah saw this as her moment. She walked over and grabbed a javelin laying on the ground. A moment later, Kristi jumped over the stick. Before she could stand up on the mat, Hannah threw the Javelin straight at Kristi and buried it deep within her left shoulder. All of a sudden there was silence and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Hannah. A few seconds had passed and then she reverted back to her putty form. The uniform had returned to its original dark gray color and she now had a large ‘Z’ emblem on her abdomen. Her eyes now glowed with a bright red color. She began dancing around and babbling, “Wobloblobloblo bloblobloblo.”
Hundreds of putties began storming the field and running over to Kristi. Track performers and visitors began running away in fear. In an instant, Curt and Billy had transported over to Kristi to help her. The putties began circling them and dancing around making babbling noises.
“Are these what I think they are?” said Billy. “Yes, they are putties, but like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Curt. They looked too human to be putties, thought Billy.
Kristi slowly got to her feet and pulled the Javelin out of her shoulder. She couldn’t move her left shoulder at all. The first wave of putties began their attack and the person who was once Hannah joined the first wave of attackers. The putties at first seemed to be too much for them to handle, but then the rangers took back control and started littering the ground with defeated foot soldiers. From a distance, it started to look like a fireworks show as dozens of putties began exploding or vaporizing near the high jump area.
Down where all the fighting was taking place, Hannah and dozens of other putties were getting tossed around, kicked, and thrown. She began losing much of her energy. Curt’s badge morphed into a Sword and he started slicing putties completely in half or running his sword through two or three of them at a time. Hannah’s slender frame allowed for Curt’s sword to pierce through several putties at a time. The foot soldiers stood in a row with two feet of razor sharp steel slammed through their chests. Their legs started sagging a little and then their bodies were devoured from the inside out by a bright white light until they completely vaporized. Billy’s badge morphed into a bow and arrows and he started shooting two or three putties at a time. One arrow completely passed through one putty entered another before it stopped. Each time an arrow hit a putty it simply vaporized within a few seconds. Kristi picked up the Javelin which had been used on her and began running around impaling putties with it.
Hannah started seeing their numbers dropping fast, but the next group could not attack until they were all eliminated first. An arrow came out of nowhere hitting her in the sternum above the scoop of her singlet. The arrow went through the putty in front of her, then passing completely through her chest before hitting the ‘Z’ of the soldier behind her, causing it to explode. Triple kill shot! I’ve been eagerly waiting for that to happen to me, she thought. She fell to her knees and then leaned against a pile of dead putties that was forming quickly at that spot. Her whole body just stopped moving and she couldn’t feel anything anymore. She could still see and hear the battle continuing on around her but could not move to get a better look. The components in the brain must still be functioning for now even though the body itself quit functioning.
The first and second wave have now been eliminated and there are hundreds of bodies scattered everywhere. The pile where Hannah had fallen has become deeper as more and more bodies have fallen onto it. A putty had fallen right in front of her, blocking part of her view. She now had a view of the back of her own neck. The shoulder length hair was still fastened in a bun, except for a few stray hairs. To pass the time, she studied the body that lay beside her. She noted how soft the white t-shirt looked and remembered how comfortable it was to wear.
The noise from the fighting seems to have died down. At this point, it is assumed that all of the foot soldiers have been eliminated. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the Stag Beetle walking around. Outnumbered, the stag beetle got desperate and began throwing putty corpses at the rangers. A whole pile of dead putty patrollers was picked up and flung in the direction of the heroes. Landing on their Z’s or by colliding with each others torsos while landing, the putties set off a chain reaction with their bodies. The shock wave sent bodies flying in all directions including Hannah’s current body, which is now laying dozens of yards away curled up in a fetal position.
For a brief moment, Billy was knocked unconscious on the ground. Curt and Kristi crawled over to him and shook him until he was awake. He opened his eyes and saw the severed head of a z putty staring straight at him. Some of the foot soldiers reverted back to a clay-like base material when they exploded. This body had been ripped apart from the explosion before it could morph back into clay. The hair was still fastened behind the head but in a messy looking bun. Billy picked up the severed head by the hair and looked intently at the eyes. There was slight movement in the pupils as they dilated and constricted to account for light and darkness. This thing is still functioning, still recording what is happening as the battle continues around it, he thought.
Even in death, the face of his new adversary looked beautiful. Secretly, Billy had always been attracted to Hannah but never knew how to show it. She was a track star and he was a nerd, but he always sensed something different about her. He felt that there was something more to her than just the athletic clothing and a collection of sports trophies. He still feels that way even though she is now an expendable foot soldier and an enemy of his. Sitting on the ground he sensed a bit of grief come over him as he thought of this. He remembers fighting these putties and the weird sense of joy he had as he was fighting them. I feel like I’m dancing with her when I am fighting them. The look on its (Hannah’s) face when it’s struggling to kick or punch me.
Hannah was thinking back when she was still a human and reading about the Power Rangers, Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa and her monsters, and of course, those putties. It became such a big deal, that they made comic books about the Power Rangers and their adventures. She always felt that they embellished their stories, but now after experiencing it firsthand, it seemed strangely close to the truth. Being killed by a ranger is painful but exhilarating as well. Hannah had always fantasized about being objectified and being used in some degrading way. Being used as cannon fodder for a powerful enemy and then being punched in the ‘Z’ causes this explosion of pleasure in her mind. Perhaps that was what Lord Zedd had intended for her to experience when she agreed to be his new foot soldier.
Oh! That’s right, I did agree to be a foot soldier, Hannah remembers. Lord Zedd had personally sought out Hannah after reading about her athletic accomplishments in the news. He also read the contents of her computer’s hard drive and knew about the secret fascination she had with being a soldier. Growing up she would watch films of medieval knights slashing their way through lines of foot soldiers on the battlefield. Medieval soldiers typically wore a sleeveless tunic or singlet over their armor. Along the way, Hannah had observed that track singlets, tank tops, and basketball jerseys closely resembled the tunic of medieval times. She lived out her fantasy of being a foot soldier by participating in sports where she wore singlets or tank tops. Whenever an opponent maneuvered around her or outwitted her and scored a point, she imagined it was like her being slashed at with a sword, run through with a lance, or pierced with an arrow.
From outer space, Lord Zedd sent a bolt of energy hurling towards the earth and crash into the monster. The ground shook and large deep crevices formed where the Stag Beetle previously was. The earth opened and dozens of corpses fell into the holes and were swallowed up. Hannah felt her limp body lifted again as a great wind came and blew the many hundreds of putty corpses around the stadium area, into the bleachers and against walls and chain link fences. Her body came to rest again near a concrete wall with a few other foot soldiers. To her delight, instead of being curled up on the ground where she can’t see anything, she can now get a better view of the battle from the way she is positioned. She can see the Stag Beetle again, but now it is growing larger and larger. With each step the monster makes, the ground trembles and some of the putties are squished beneath her feet. A few minutes later, the Megazord arrived and the two battled it out among the rubble that was once the stadium.
From Hannah’s point of view, it’s like witnessing two children in halloween costumes fighting each other in slow motion. The area around the fighting must be absolutely devastated by now, she thought. The megazord fell or stepped very close to her location multiple times during the course of battle. After several minutes of intense fighting, the megazord finally defeated the giant Stag Beetle as it fell and exploded off in the distance.
The confrontation with the Power Rangers was finally over and it was a humiliating defeat for Lord Zedd and his countless minions. Hannah was not too disappointed, she finally got to live out her fantasy of being a foot soldier. However, a part of her thought the rangers would hesitate to fight her because the new putties had a more feminine appearance and because they looked like a fellow classmate. In fact, it appeared to make no difference at all. They cut down the little army of Hannah clones in a matter of minutes.
The hours slipped by and the evening came. Hannah could hear footsteps and sounds of movement. Apparently, some of the locals brave enough to venture into ground zero of the fighting were coming by to investigate. She could see men with flashlights and some of them had cameras and were taking pictures of the putties and the devastation. About an hour later, more and more people could be heard and voices shouting. It was dark now and she could see very little except the dark figures of people moving around and the occasional person walking by taking pictures. A group of people were walking over to her and she could see them picking up bodies and carrying them over to a cart. They picked up Hannah by the arms and legs, carried her over to the giant cart, and tossed her onto the other bodies that were laying there. More bodies were tossed onto the cart and then it was hauled over to where a massive pile was forming in the middle of a field.
The townspeople had formed what looked like a giant wall of bodies and neatly stacked the dead foot soldiers on top of each other. They picked up Hannah and laid her too on the pile with the hundreds of other bodies. The uniform worn by putties was made of nylon, a flammable material, so a simple match is all that was needed to ignite the fire. The fire came quickly and consumed her body and then, nothing.
-- END OF CHAPTER 1 --
