Hey! So this is the first chapter into a story idea that has been running through my head for a while. I came up with the idea for some of the aspects of the story almost 10 years ago under my previous alias on here. The only thing I remember vividly over the years was the way I had introduced at the time my main villain. Now that I am older, wiser and more polished (ish) with writing...I went back to start to add and clean up what I had already wrote years ago. The first chapter is part of the new ideas I have come up with recently while sticking to the same basic storyline I started.
This is an alternate timeline over events in Power Rangers that will include cross overs from a couple of Marvel characters. The timeline alternates after Katherine took over as the Pink Ranger...everything else prior to that is the same.
DISCLAIMER: This story will feature hard language, extreme violence and maybe a sex scene or 2. This story will be rated a HARD M from Chapter 2 until the end. This will be the only warning as far as Rating is concerned. If you do not like language (F-bombs and C-words), violence against women, torture, graphic detail, and/or sexual situations...PLEASE TURN AWAY NOW!
DISCLAIMER 2: I am a fan of Power Rangers and Marvel characters. I do not own these characters nor am I making a profit off these characters. I am listing Marvel characters in general because I don't want to spoil who is in the story. As far as Power Rangers are concerned, All the usual suspects are in it up to Season 3 when Kat would have replaced Kimberly.
Today had been an emotional day to start with but it didn't get any easier as a woman in her mid 40's had decided to pull out a photo album from a trunk in her closet and brought it into the living room. Every year, it is the same routine as she had always done each year for the last 16 years. She would grab this specific album and would look through the photos while her children were in school. She did this as to avoid the questions that would be raised and it was something she had not been willing to get into. She had just wanted them to stay innocent as long as she could but she knew someday, she would have to have the talk with them.
Kimberly Ann Hart-Oliver took a seat in her favorite chair by a large window in the living room and opened the album to the first page. She knew her children would be coming home soon but she had at least wanted to get this over with before they got home. The memories flooded with the photos as she looked at them one by one. Some made her smile while others just brought tears and uncontrollable sobs. After 16 years, the hurt was still as fresh as the days they happened. Looking at the memories she had with her best friends, it made the losses hurt worse because of the wonderful people that were taken too soon over a choice they had made over 20 years ago when they were just teenagers with attitudes.
As Kimberly stared at one photo of 2 teenagers caught in a romantic embrace between themselves, the pain of loss almost doubled for the photo depicted a time when she and her first love were probably at their happiest until the days when their children were born. She realized at an early age that she knew that boy would be the one she would marry and want to spend the rest of their lives together; hell…she even knew it was a mistake for breaking it off with him right after she left for the Pan Global Games in 1995 at the beginning of her junior year, but between peer pressure, the stress of a long distance relationship and their hectic activities she had decided to send her boyfriend of 2 years a "Dear John" letter lying about meeting someone else.
Just as she was finishing another cry and cleaned herself up, she could hear the sounds of feet stomping on the outdoor mat to signify that her kids were home from school. She cursed herself for losing track of the time and now sat with a whole world her kids did not know about, including their father. She never explained to her kids the reason why their father never saw them because they were just babies when he was taken from her. While Kim would answer questions about their father, she would always give the most generalized answers she could. As they got older, the questions just came up more frequently and it was starting to get harder to avoid the subject. She did think about wanting to rush back to her room quickly to put the album away but it would really draw suspicion as to why was she running to put something away.
"Mom, you home?" called out one of the two children as they walked inside the front door of a house out in the middle of nowhere.
The kids, ages 16 and 14, always wondered why their mother moved them out to the middle of the woods outside of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. They always had in the back of their mind that they were hiding from something but never knew what. While the countryside is pretty and the people were friendly, their nearest neighbor was 5 kilometers away.
"In the living room sweetheart!" Exclaimed Kim as she turned the page to a photo of herself and her 5 best friends posing together in a group hug.
At the sounds of hearing both her daughter and son entering the living room, Kim raised her chestnut-brown eyes to them and smile as best as she could trying to hide the fact she had been crying. The children were a spitting image of both their parents as her 16-year old daughter had her father's eyes and height while she can see herself in the girl's mannerisms and her cheek bones. Sometimes she could swear she was looking at a reflection when she looks at her.
Her 14-year old son was also taking after his father in the height department as both kids stand 5'7 now but she can see herself the most in his facial features. They were masculine yet soft which helped in his popularity at school with the co-ed population.
"Mom, are you ok? You look upset?" asked her son. She continued to smiled as he is always worried about his mother…wanting to be the protector like his father was.
"I'm fine Jason." reassuring her son. "I am just having moments of nostalgia and it is making me just a little bit sad. I just wish your father were here to watch you two grow into wonderful human beings."
The girl walked over to her mother and wrapped her in her arms and hugged her mother for what seems like the millionth time in the last few days. It was always around this time that their mom would get overly emotional, like if she was grieving something every year that they can remember. As soon as Kate wrapped her arms around her neck, Kim just couldn't hold back anymore and sobbed into her teenaged daughter's shoulder while wrapping her own arms around her. Jason, already having sensed what was going to happen, had gotten a box of tissues and placed them on the side table next to the chair.
After a few minutes, Kate broke away from her mother and reached over to grab the box of tissues from the table.
"Here Mom." Quietly said the girl.
"Thanks Kate." Sobbed the older woman. She grabbed a tissue from the box and wiped her eyes as she smiled to her children. Kate happened to see what it was that made her mother so emotional when she saw a photo album in Kim's lap. The page that had been landed on had 6 people in the photo. She could recognize her mother as one of the people but she didn't know the other 5 people. The teenagers in the photo had the look of care free and happiness but what she didn't know was that everything was a total chaos at the time.
"Mom…. I know you don't like talking about it; but every year since we can remember, you are always upset, emotional, and sad when you look at these pictures but you never say anything more than 'I'm fine.' Kate looked her mother in the eyes, practically pleading with her soft brown eyes to hopefully get their mother to open up finally. "Whatever it is, Jason and I are old enough now to understand if you want to tell us. We just can't keep doing this every year without knowing why."
The mother looked at her daughter before shifting her eyes to her son Jason, who had settled next to his sister on the large footstool that had come with the chair. The young boy nodded his head confirming what his sister had just said. "We are not children anymore. It is ok to tell us."
Kim smiled in amazement at how these two were trying to comfort her and show her how grown up they were but no matter at what age, they will always be her babies. She had been struggling with the idea of letting them in on her secret that has haunted her for the past 16 years. This secret was the reason why they had moved to the middle of nowhere in an attempt to stay off the grid in case others came back that wanted to hurt or even kill herself and her children.
But they can't be kept in the dark forever. As she had finally decided that today was the day they were going to know about what happened, a slight panic arose in her chest of guilt for what she was about to do but also was getting a sense of relief in knowing she wasn't going to have to carry this burden anymore.
"That is sweet of you two to offer but there has always been a reason why I never told you about this album or what today specifically means to me. It was a part of my life that I have kept secret even from your grandparents."
The kids sat back with what would be described as disappointing looks as they were getting the feeling their mother was brushing them off again for another year.
"But you are right. I can't keep this from you forever and you do have a right to know as it involved your father as well." The older woman said as she took a photo out of its place in the album and handed it to Kate to look at. Jason looked over her shoulder to see the picture as well. Would they finally get to know about their father? Their mother rarely talked about him but when she did, she would always tear up right away and excuse herself to cry in another room after giving a vague answer. It always broke their hearts to see their mom crying over someone who was never around but yet, still held a torch for. They always assumed their father left them just because they never heard from him.
"This is a picture of my 4 best friends, your father and myself back when we were about your age in high school." She pointed out the teenage boy as she had spoken. The boy was a spitting image of Jason and he can see the family resemblance.
"Who was our father?" Jason asked.
"His name was Thomas Oliver, but we always called him Tommy. As you can see, he was a very handsome guy and I fell in love with him instantly freshmen year. While he was handsome, he was also the most selfless, caring man I had ever met." Kim said smiling at the memories of her and Tommy by the lake.
Kate looked up from the picture to her mother and looked like she was about to explode…
"Selfless? Caring? If he was so caring Mom", tears started coming down slowly from her eyes, "why has he never reached out to us. Didn't he love us?!"
Kate always harbored some jealousy to her friends who did have dads in their life. Whenever a father/daughter dance at school happened, she was always at home because she didn't want to be embarrassed for either bringing her mother or being a third wheel to one of her friends and their fathers. When she always dreamed of her wedding day, she always pictured a faceless man giving her away. She just couldn't understand why her mother would use those words to describe a man who wasn't around ever.
She knew her mother still loved him and she probably shouldn't have shouted at Kim, but something just kind of snapped inside her hearing those words. It was like her mother held this guy on a pedestal when it should have been the opposite.
"Oh sweetheart…he loved you very much. He loved both of you very much and it is my fault I never told you both why you never saw your father." Tears started down her cheeks again as she was finally going to tell her children the truth. "Your father passed away 14 years ago today right after you were born Jason."
Kate and Jason felt like they just got gut punched after their mother told them that. A mixture of emotions was starting to go through them. The predominant emotion coming to the forefront was guilt. They were now feeling guilty for always assuming that their father didn't love them and left his family behind while being dead never crossed their thoughts before.
"How did he die?" Kate managed to squeak out as she was trying to find her voice.
"In order to answer that, I have to break a promise I made to an old friend a long time ago. Whatever I am about to tell you is to never leave this house, understood?" The kids looked at their mother as she had shifted her look to one of stern seriousness now. The gravity of what was going to be told crossed the teenagers' minds and they both nodded their understanding.
"Your father died trying to protect us because of our past as power rangers." And just like that, it felt like a thousand pounds was lifted off your chest. The kids knew about power rangers as they are on the news every now and again but they would never have suspected that their parents were once power rangers. "Your father died from his injuries he sustained in a fight against a man named Frank Castle. Frank had been placed under a spell from Rita Repulsa and hunted the remaining rangers with one instruction…to kill us. He had taken over those duties from another man who had been hired to kill us one by one. Your father killed him."
"Back in 1993, my friends Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini and myself were chosen by an intergalactic being named Zordon to because the first power rangers Earth had had in over 100 years. We battled Rita until our sophomore year when her boss, Lord Zedd banished her to the far outreaches of space because of her failure to kill us and conquer Earth. We never heard from Rita again until years later after we had all retired as Power Rangers and gave our powers to new team members."
Kate and Jason looked on with piqued interest as their mom was giving them a history lesson others would have paid to hear. Something was bugging Jason though as he listened. When Kim had finished her thought, he slipped in to ask the question he was sure was on Kate's mind as well.
"So how does Dad figure into all of this? You said that he died because he was a power ranger."
Kimberly sighed as she recalled the day perfectly when Tommy became a ranger. "Your father was recruited by Rita just after I first met him. It was love at first sight when I met your father. He had just moved to town and was competing in a martial arts tournament against Jason."
Jason finally wanted to know which one of her friends she was talking to so he asked, "which one is Jason? Is that where you got the idea for my name?"
Kimberly sat back in her chair trying to keep her composure as there was much more to tell. She looked at her son first, "He was the one in the red shirt. You were named after the first red and blue rangers, Jason Scott and Billy Cranston as my way of keeping them alive."
She shifted her eyes to look at her daughter to speak to her next, "and you were named after the second pink ranger and first yellow ranger, Katherine Hilliard and Trini Kwan. Trini was my best friend since I was in elementary school. Don't get me wrong, they were all my best friends but there is always that one person who you told all your secrets to. For me, that was Trini."
Kate looked back at the picture still in her hand and finally understood why her middle name was Asian. It was to keep her mother's best friend alive to the world. From the way their mother kept talking about her friends, it sounds like no one survived from the two assassins.
"So what happened with the match between Dad and Jason?" Kate asked.
"If I remember correctly, I think it went to a draw. We all thought Jason was going to win but your dad was very skilled in that he was already a 2nddegree black belt on his way to his 3rddegree 6 months later I think. I wasn't really too interested in his skills, more into how handsome he was. Oh, it was love at first sight for me. I just knew that your father was the one for me. Trini noticed the same thing as soon as I looked at him." Kimberly smiled and blushed a little thinking of that day.
"I didn't talk to him that day but we did talk the next day. He came to my rescue from the local bullies and scared them away. Your father was reserved at first and turned to walk away after giving him my thanks. Something came over me and I just had to get his attention so I said Hey, introduced myself while asking for his name. I asked him to come out hang out with us after school at the local hangout. When he said sure, there was something in his smile and eyes like just made me felt like I was on cloud 9. Not many people can say that they were able to find and marry their first love."
Kimberly adjusted her legs underneath her so that she could get some feeling back into them. "Sadly, we didn't get to hang out that day because later on when he was coming to the Youth Center, that was when Rita kidnapped him and made him to become her evil Green Ranger. I noticed something was different right away when I finally saw him a couple of days later. He was more cold and cruel which was the complete opposite of how he was before. He had destroyed our base of operations, sent our mentor Zordon away in a time warp and practically destroyed Alpha with a computer virus since Alpha was a walking, talking robot. I remember the day I confronted Tommy after we found out he was the Green Ranger and the fear I felt when we locked eyes, I am so glad we were able to break the spell when we did because to see those brown eyes flash green and malicious in his voice was probably the scariest thing I witnessed as a ranger."
"Even though he didn't choose to be a ranger in the beginning, he decided to join the team and help us stop Rita on many occasions. But it always seemed like just as soon as something great would come along for him, something bad always happened at the same time."
"What do you mean Mom?" Jason asked.
"Well, the first time I kissed your father was also the day he was stripped of his green ranger powers. He went from having the lowest of lows losing his powers to being able to ask me out to the school dance that weekend while giving me the most romantic first kiss I could have had. We were together from that moment on." Kimberly sighed again. It always broke her heart to remember what Tommy went through after losing his powers and being forced to the sidelines. There was even a time where she wouldn't have seen him for weeks because he would be up at his Uncle's cabin by myself.
"Is the two men the reason why we live out here in Canada without a single neighbor for kilometers? Is this why Grandma and Grandpa never visit?" Realization stuck Kate as she was putting the pieces together asking her mom these questions.
Kim wiped her eyes as she nodded her head. "I was scared for our lives after your father died that I told my parents we were going to disappear one night and by the next morning, the 3 of us were gone. You were just 1 almost 2 while your brother was only 5 months old. I keep them informed that we are alive and ok a couple of times a year through letters and I have sent them a school picture of the two of you for them to have, but they still don't know where we live."
"Couldn't they just track the postage on the letters" chimed in Jason.
"No sweetheart. When I send the letters, I send them from different locations every time. This last letter I sent to them, I drove down into Toronto to send. I do this while you two are in school so you didn't have to know why I would drive for hours just to go to a post office. "
"Why Mom? What exactly happened?" Kate didn't know why but she wanted to hear the whole story. What really happened to her friends.
Kim sighed as she knew where she must go with this, "It all started back one night in New York City."