Disclaimer: I do not own anything
Author's Note: This story follows Forever Hold Your Peace. I suggest you read that first before starting this one as you may be lost or confused by some of the references.
A few months had passed since Kelly and Hunter had mended their relationship, if that's what one would call it. Kelly had kept her end of the bargain by refraining herself from contacting Hunter unless it was for work. She had to admit to scheduling him a little more to give herself more opportunities to be with him, but as time wore on she was finding herself more and more able to cope with what she had created.
Alex stood on a stepladder in Storm Chargers, holding up as banner while on the ground Olivia was eyeing it, and him, carefully to make sure it was attached properly and it was straight. She had an eye for decorating. She knew exactly what was needed in any room to make it look better, she knew what to do with furniture that didn't seem to have a place anywhere, and with a simple glance she could tell it anything was straight or crooked.
"Higher, Alex, higher!"
"I'm higher-ing it!" Alex groaned as he held his hand up as high as he possibly could. Olivia grunted.
"Well, higher it some more!"
Alex let both his arms drop back to his sides as he turned to the older girl, "Are you kidding me?" he asked her, his face showed he was dead serious now. "Do you think I have elastic arms or something? I can't get any higher than I already am!"
"You can stretch," Olivia shrugged.
Alex hopped off the stepladder and turned to Kelly. She was standing behind the counter eating her lunch and watching the two teens try and work together. She knew they were the best of friends, which made their bickering so comical to her.
"Kelly! She's trying to make me pull a muscle!" Alex tattled as he pointed to Olivia, making himself look like a two year old who was trying to get his sister into trouble. Olivia shook her head and smacked her own forehead with her hand. Alex could be such a child.
Kelly chuckled, "We've got a first aid kit somewhere; I don't see what the problem is."
Alex' jaw dropped. After working with Kelly for almost a year and one month longer than Olivia had, he expected his boss to take his side, at least once in a while. But Kelly always seemed to favour Olivia in battles like these. Alex was positive it was a girl thing.
Thankfully Hunter was around the corner. Having heard the entire playful argument, he decided to walk out and protect his own kind.
"Last I heard, first aid kits do nothing to help pulled muscles."
"It's called RICE, Hunter," Kelly smirked. She avoided making eye contact with Hunter. She had learned that that was one way she could get her emotions for him to surface. As a result of wanting to suppress said emotions she had mastered the ability of gazing at her dirty blonde mechanic without ever looking him in the eyes.
"Thanks, I already had lunch," Hunter said dismissively. He looked at Kelly and smirked.
Olivia placed her hand on her stomach, "Yeah, and I would like to keep mine down, so please stop with the flirting and will someone help Alex get higher-er."
"Your visions are stupid," Alex grumbled as he walked back up the stepladder. Hunter and Kelly exchanged looks at Olivia's commented about them flirting. While the young girl was aware of their different friendship and the conditions that went along with it, she, and Alex for that matter, continued to refer to their interactions as flirting.
"No, Alex! Higher! Stand on the tip of your toes if you have to!"
"I've got a solution," Hunter smirked. He rushed over while Alex stepped back down. The older man grabbed the stepladder and carried it to the back room. Alex, Olivia and Kelly all leaned over to watch as Hunter tossed the stepladder in the bin.
"Hey!" Kelly frowned.
"We get a new stepladder!" Hunter said as he walked back into the room. He dusted off his hands and looked at the two teens, "Or, better yet, our boss can invest in an actual ladder!"
"Ooh!" Alex smiled. He turned to Kelly and started begging, "Please, please, please!"
"No," Kelly bit. She looked at Hunter, "Why the hell did you say that? Now he's going to be asking me for a ladder all week!"
"So buy him one?" Hunter shrugged.
"I can't! He'll fall and hurt himself! And don't get me started on what Dustin's going to do when he sees a full sized ladder in the store!"
"That's their problem," Hunter said.
Kelly shook her head, "Oh, no. No it's not! If they fall, I'm the one who's going to have to take care of the consequences! I'll have to drive someone to the hospital."
"C'mon, Madam! A real ladder would be so cool!" Alex said. He was bouncing up and down with excitement. Olivia chuckled as she placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to hold him down.
"See! Now he's not going to stop!" Kelly frowned to Hunter.
"Ignore him."
"Easy for you to say," Kelly scoffed. "You only see these kids three nights a week! I have to take care of them the rest of the time!"
"Okay, mom, dad," Olivia started, interrupting the back and forth between her boss and Hunter, "Alex and I are just going to work on something else for tomorrow's big day."
"But I like the banner," Alex pouted. He turned to Olivia, "It's got a dirt bike on it. I like dirt bikes."
Olivia grabbed some signs from the couches, "You take these and stick them up on the windows."
Alex pulled the signs from their pouches and read them aloud as he walked to the front of the store.
"Factory Blue's Blake Bradley coming to Storm Chargers January 20th," he sighed loudly and shook his head as he read, "I don't get what the big deal is. I've met this guy. It's not like he's a god or something."
Hunter laughed at the younger boy before Kelly pulled him into the back room. Hunter held his hands up and pulled away from her.
"Rule violation!" he called out.
Kelly shook her head, "Don't you ever make an announcement like that in front of Alex without talking to me first."
"What's the big deal? He's distracted! It's not like it's the end of the world," Hunter said. Kelly rolled her eyes and was about to turn away when a loud whirsh sound could be heard from outside, followed by an explosion, the ground shaking, people screaming and an alarm blaring. Kelly and Hunter lost their footing for a moment but the shaking stopped quickly and they were on their feet again. As they tried to process what was going on, the lights begin to flicker and the screaming intensified.
Though he was years out of practice Hunter's Ranger instincts kicked in. He grabbed Kelly and pulled her along as he rushed to the front of the store. Another explosion could be heard over the city wide alarm blaring and the ground shook again as a result, causing Hunter and Kelly to stumble.
"Alex! Libby!" Kelly screamed, trying to find her young co-workers.
"Over here!" Olivia called, waving at her seniors from the window. She pointed outside, "What's that?"
While Kelly pulled Alex and Olivia away from the window so she could make sure nothing happened to them, Hunter stepped forward to check out what was going on outside. His eyes widened as he noticed an army of robots marching down the streets, holding up guns or lasers and shooting at anything that moved. Countless people were hit by the robots and more were already on the ground. Smoke filled the air as buildings caught fire trapping people inside. Animals, like people, were running around everywhere, trying to find a safe spot to hide from the robots.
"They look like robot Kalzacks," Hunter said just before a robot fired a laser at the window. He quickly turned and shielded Kelly, Olivia and Alex from the flying glass and pulled them to the ground to stay out of sight.
When the glass stopped falling Alex made it back up to this hands and knees and began crawling to the front counter. Olivia quickly followed him, looking for cover.
Kelly turned to Hunter, "For once they have the right idea," she said.
Hunter nodded and he and Kelly scurried their way over, seeking shelter along with Alex and Olivia. When Hunter thought they were safe he reached into his shirt, pulling out a necklace.
"Not the end of the world, huh, Hunter?" Kelly scoffed. Hunter shushed her and started tapping on his necklace.
"Good luck charm?" Alex asked. Hunter shook his head.
"It's not working!"
"Really? You think?" Olivia snapped, losing her patience out of pure fear. Suddenly, Hunter's necklace came to life. There was a faint glow coming from it, as well as radio static. Hunter started yelling into it.
"Cam? Tori? Blake? Anyone?" he called. "Shane? Dustin!"
Kelly, Olivia and Alex all took a moment to exchange looks. To them, Hunter had already inhaled too much smoke.
"We are so going to die," Olivia groaned and she dropped her head on Kelly's shoulder. The red head wrapped her arm around the young girl and held her close.
After a while of trying, Hunter managed to get someone through the necklace he wore. No one could understand what the voice was saying, but they were sure it was a human voice.
"That's just freaky," Alex pointed out, eyeing the necklace suspiciously, as if it was going to hurt him. Hunter shook his head.
"I don't get it!" he shouted, slamming his hand on the bottom of the counter, which as this point rested just above his head. "This is one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the world!"
"Ego, much?" Olivia muttered.
"Hunter, can you tell us what the hell you're trying to accomplish?" Kelly demanded. If she was trapped in her own store with two kids and a nutcase, she wanted to know.
"This isn't a necklace," Hunter started by explaining. He held up the necklace, which was still making strange noises and a voice could still be heard, but not understood. "It's a communication device. Cam made one for all us Ninja Rangers in case there was ever any trouble. We only had to use it once."
Hunter looked around as he finished his explanation. Eyes were wide and there was definitely an expression of shock on everyone's faces.
Olivia whined loudly, "We really are going to die!" she grabbed Kelly by the upper arms and started shaking her boss, "Please tell me you know what to do! I'm too young to die!"
"I'm even younger than her!" Alex shouted as he grabbed Kelly.
Kelly continued to look at Hunter, "You said us Ninja Rangers. Are you trying to tell us you were a Power Ranger?"
Hunter nodded, "I was hoping you were never going to have to find out."
"You believe him?" Olivia asked. While Kelly tried to keep the teens settled, Hunter poked his head out from under the counter. He saw the streets were cleared of robots.
"C'mon," he said, pulling his co-workers out of hiding. "If the others are smart, they'll know where to meet us!"
"And where is that?" Kelly asked as she and the teens followed Hunter into the streets. When they stepped outside, all four had a look around. Bodies were strewn everywhere. Some alive, some dead and some were totally helpless. The buildings that had been on fire only moments ago were now reduced to rubble and ash as a result of the never ending explosions that were heard continuously as the four hid inside Storm Chargers, and even now.
"Something tells me we're not in Blue Bay Harbour anymore," Olivia breathed as she tried to take in the scene. Alex grabbed her hand.
"You watch way too many movies," he said. "It's obvious this is some sort of alien attack! They're finally coming!"
"Come on!" Hunter grunted as he tried to pull the kids and Kelly to safety. Right now it seemed like their only chance of survival was to run. Ninja Ops was the best place to run to.
At least, that's what Hunter hoped.
